Tim Johnston – Indonesia's commitment to free speech and civil rights was questioned yesterday after a Balinese student was sentenced to six months in jail for showing disrespect to the president.

The trial of I Wayan "Gendo" Suardana, accused of burning a photograph of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year at a rally protesting against fuel price increases, had become a focal point for advocates of free speech, who mounted daily protests the Bali court hearing the charges.

The reading of the verdict had to be curtailed on Friday after Mr Suardana's supporters threatened the judges after hearing the sentence. The judges finished the reading yesterday.

"The conviction of a university student in Bali for insulting the president makes this writer want to hide his head in shame over the state of our befuddled democracy," wrote Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, a local commentator, in the English-language Jakarta Post newspaper yesterday. "It is an indictment that our new democracy remains unable to guarantee the protection of citizens' civil liberties."

Opinion is divided over whether verdicts such as the imprisonment of Mr Suardana and other recent setbacks for free speech, such as the refusal to grant visas to critical foreign analysts, academics and journalists, are a hangover from the authoritarian days of former President Suharto or an emerging dark side of the more tolerant administration of President Yudhoyono.

"Indonesia, as a democracy, values freedom of expression," Andi Mallarangeng, Mr Yudhoyono's spokesman, said yesterday. "(The president) is trying to send a message that he upholds the freedom of speech, but in accordance with our values and ethics. You can say anything you want, but you don't have to burn pictures or anything like that."

Mr Mallarangeng declined to say whether Mr Yudhoyono favoured having the relevant parts of the criminal code repealed. A prominent lawyer, Frans Winarta, said that the same articles were included in a new draft code that is being debated in Indonesia.

The articles of law that criminalise the defamation of the president, the vice-president or the government are a legacy of Dutch rule in Indonesia.

Under Megawati Sukarnoputri, a number of demonstrators were imprisoned for disrespect, and the editor of the daily newspaper, Rakyat Merdeka, was given a suspended six-month sentence after his paper reported on earlier demonstrations against fuel price rises. Under the current administration, at least one other student has been sentenced to prison for defaming the president. He received a five-month term.

Mr Suardana, who has already been in prison for more than five months, is expected to be released in three weeks' time.