Nurfika Osman, Jakarta – Watchdog groups have urged the government to immediately review the 2008 Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) Law, saying the current regulation could be a threat to free speech.
The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) and Information and Communication Technology Watch (ICT Watch) said the current law failed to guarantee freedom of speech and there was little time left for the government to review the law before the legislative election started.
"There should be more room and mechanisms in the law that guarantee freedom of expression for every citizen in the country because we've seen that many innocent people have been charged under the law," Elsam researcher Wahyudi Djafar said.
Elsam recorded at least 37 people had been charged under the law between 2008 and 2013, including Prita Mulyasari, who was sued by Omni International Hospital in 2009 for defamation after she complained about the hospital's service in an online mailing list.
Wahyudi said most of the victims were charged under Article 27 of the ITE Law, stipulating that anyone found guilty of using electronic media, including social networks, to intimidate or defame others could be liable to six years in prison and a fine of up to Rp 1 billion (US$82,000).
"This article has created a chilling effect on the freedom of speech and expression in Indonesia and this is a threat in a democratic country," Wahyudi said.
ICT Watch researcher Donny BU said the ITE Law had also restricted Internet freedom. He said based on the law, the government could easily block and filter content on many websites.
Donny said in the past websites like malesbanget.com, a comedy entertainment website, and forum.ourvoice.or.id, which promotes the rights of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community, had become victims of arbitrary filtering.
"It was amusing when the government blocked malesbanget.com just because their system found many words like 'male' and 'bang' on the website. This only shows that it has yet to apply a proper mechanism in the blocking or filtering of content on the Internet," he said.
He said such reckless blocking of the Internet was a violation of human rights. The two groups also demanded the government set up a call center for cases of arbitrary blocking in the future. In addition, the groups also called on for the establishment of an independent body that could maintain Internet freedom and neutrality.
Responding to the demand, the government said it planned to review the law, especially regarding harsh punishments for violators.
Communications and Information Ministry informatics applications division secretary Djoko Agung Harijadi said in the draft revision that the maximum punishment for people convicted for defamation would be reduced from six to two years.
"By reducing the prison term, the police can't detain a suspect before a court verdict. We hope this will allay people's fears of expressing themselves freely," Djoko said.
He said they had sent the draft revisions on the ITE Law to the House of Representatives and the draft had been included in the 2014 national legislation program (Prolegnas).