Jakarta – Head of the Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) Neta S.Pane said an article on libel or defamation against the President did not need to be included in the draft of the Criminal Code bill being debated between the government and the House of Representatives.
"There are two reasons for not including an article on libel article in the draft bill," he said as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Sunday.
Firstl, Neta said, the Constitutional Court (MK) had withdrawn the article from the draft bill. Second, by including the article, the draft bill treated the President as special whereas the President and other Indonesian citizens were equal before the law.
"All Indonesian citizens are equal before the law; hence, the President should not be treated as special legally. Treating the President as special before the law means that Indonesia discriminates between its own people and law," said Neta.
He reminded that the Criminal Code (KUHP) had included articles on libel and defamation; therefore, there was no need to include an article on defamation against the President in the KUHP.
"If he feels insulted, he can file a report with the police using the libel and defamation articles just like in the case of Judge Sarpin who reported two Judicial Commission judges for alleged libel and defamation with the police," said Neta.
Earlier, President Jokowi "Jokowi" Widodo proposed the draft bill which consisted of 786 articles to the House for an approval. Of hundreds of articles in the draft bill, there was an article, which regulated libel or defamation against the President and Vice President, the MK had annulled from the draft bill since 2006. (ebf)