Abdi Ryanda Shakti, Jakarta – Amnesty International Executive Director Usman Hamid has highlighted an alleged digital attack against democracy activist Neni Nur Hayati after she criticised the governor of West Java on social media. Amnesty International is a global movement that campaigns for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all.
"This is an attack on civil liberties and further underscores the serious decline in the climate of freedom of expression in Indonesia", said Hamid on Thursday July 17.
He emphasised that responding to legitimate criticism with attacks is a violation of freedom of opinion and expression in Indonesia. "This must stop immediately. Law enforcement officials in Indonesia must proactively investigate this digital attack", he explained.
Hamid believes that any failure to investigate or bring those responsible to justice reinforces the belief that the perpetrators of the attacks are above the law. "If space for expression continues to be curbed, we will continue to regress back to the dark ages of authoritarianism that we should have left behind long ago", said Hamid.
Hamid emphasised that the state should be there to protect, not to allow, let alone to play a role in silencing legitimate critical voices by citizens.
"The protection of the right to freedom of expression as stipulated under Article 19 of the ICCPR [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] applies to all types of information and ideas including information and ideas that are considered shocking, offensive or disturbing, regardless of whether the content of the information or ideas is true or false", he said.
Neni Nur Hayati, who is a democracy activist and the director of Democracy and Election Empowerment Partnership (DEEP) Indonesia, told Amnesty International today that for three consecutive days she has received a barrage of digital attacks.
Over the last three days from July 15-17, Hayati received serious attacks in the form of doxing, hate speech and hacking through the Instagram account @neni1783 and the TikTok account @neninurhayati36 which never stopped.
The digital attacks occurred after Hayati posted a video on TikTok on May 5 about the dangers of buzzers, which could threaten democracy and the nation's existence. In the video, she did not mention the Governor of West Java, Dedi Mulyadi (KDM) at all. The video was aimed at all regional heads elected in the 2024 simultaneous general elections.
Hayati realised that some videos criticized Mulyadi's policies, but there were also other videos that he appreciated.
Following the criticism about buzzers, Hayati revealed, on July 16 her personal photos appeared on social media accounts managed by the West Java provincial government, including the West Java Communications and Information Office (Diskominfo Jabar), jabarprov.go.id, humas_jabar and jabarsaberhoaks.
Amnesty conducted a verification one of the official West Java provincial government accounts on Instagram, namely Diskominfo Jabar with the address https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMJpANzzZK0/?igsh=aXBxdjl5NHB2Zmxq.
The content displays a video of an explanation by governor Mulyadi accompanied by a narrative stating that there is no budget, specifically media spending, used to pay buzzers.
However, the content also displays photo of Hayati without the photo owner's prior knowledge or consent. Simultaneously, Hayati's Instagram and TikTok accounts have been flooded with insults and abusive language for three days.
Hayati also told Amnesty that all her social media accounts have been hacked. Her WhatsApp account is inaccessible, preventing her from replying to messages. She was also having difficulty accessing her TikTok account.
Amnesty International Indonesia noted that from January to July 2025 there were at least 16 cases of digital attacks against 17 human rights defenders in Indonesia.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Amnesty Internasional Desak Serangan Digital Terhadap Aktivis Pemilu Neni Nur Hayati Diusut Tuntas".]