Muninggar Sri Saraswati – The Constitutional Court on Wednesday threw out a judicial review request over a Criminal Code article about provocation in public filed by former coordinating minister for economic affairs Rizal Ramli.

According to the verdict, which was delivered during a hearing led by Constitutional Court Chairman Mahfud MD, the article was conditionally constitutional, meaning the provision remains applicable only if a public speech carries substantial provocative statements for people to violate the law.

Article 160 of the Criminal Code stipulates that anyone whose writing or speech instigates opposition against authorities or encourages the violation of laws can be jailed for as much as six years.

Rizal challenged Article 160 which, he said, contradicted the 1945 Constitution's provision on the freedom of expression.

The article of the Criminal Code, which was drafted during the Dutch colonial era, had been widely used during the New Order regime of former President Suharto to silence critics.

Rizal filed the complaint with the Constitutional Court after he was named a suspect for allegedly supporting a student rally against fuel price hikes in June last year that ended in violence.

Following the allegation, he was fired as president commissioner of state-owned cement producer PT Semen Gresik.

Rizal, who was the chairman of the Indonesia Awakening Committee, was named a suspect after the group's secretary general, Ferry Juliantono, was prosecuted and sentenced to one year in jail for planning the riots.

Rizal allegedly delivered a provocative speech to students in a meeting prior to the rally, which was aimed at pressuring the government to cancel its decision to raise fuel prices.