Jakarta. The Indonesian Legal Help Foundation, or YLBHI, stated they had found 38 blasphemy cases in Indonesia from January to May.
In the past, the country’s bothersome blasphemy law has actually mainly been utilized to prosecute members of spiritual minorities.
” Out of the 38 cases, six were in South Sulawesi, 5 in North Maluku, 5 in East Java, 4 in West Java and 4 in North Sumatra,” YLBHI director Asfinawati said in an online conversation on Tuesday.
Two cases each were discovered in South Borneo, Riau Islands and Jakarta, and one case each was discovered in Gorontalo, Jambi, West Nusa Tenggara, Papua, Riau, North Sulawesi and South Sumatra, she added.
According to her, kids under the age of 18 were involved in some of the cases.
” In two cases, 5 kids under the age of 18 are the suspects. In 6 cases, the suspects are eight individuals under the age of 21,” she stated.
According to the YLBHI, blasphemy charges are typically used short article 156 A of the Criminal Code (KUHP), Article 59 verse 3 of the Societal Organization Law and article 28 verse 2 and post 45 A verse 2 of the Electronic Information and Deal Law (UU ITE).
” Acts that the general public and police frequently think about as blasphemous include making independent interpretations of spiritual teachings, pretending to be a prophet, insulting faiths or spiritual symbols, proselytizing, dislike speech, obstructing religious activities and carrying out acts that contradict spiritual teachings,” Asfinawati said.
She stated Indonesia still has no clear legal meaning of blasphemy, which meant law enforcers often catch public pressure to throw blasphemy charges against innocent people.
According to the YLBHI’s research. 28 of the blasphemy cases between January and May were instigated by the cops and 23 charges were submitted seemingly to avoid public disturbance and vigilantism.
Asfinawati pointed out a case in which an supposed blasphemer was assembled by the public and gave a police headquarters.
” Cases like this produce an issue for the authorities. Frequently they feel required to charge the accused with blasphemy. What we need is a clearer meaning of blasphemy and a paradigm shift on what ‘ public disturbance’ involves,” she stated.
Asfinawati stated the YLBHI had actually made suggestions to the government and lawmakers to eliminate post 27 verse 3, post 28 verse 3 and post 45 A verse 2 of the Electronic Info and Deal Law to avoid divergent interpretations and criminalization of the civil liberty, viewpoint and other rights of expression.
” The federal government and lawmakers also require to provide a new policy on hate crime or crimes based upon hatred of race, ethnicity and faith. There ought to be a different article on hate speech due to the fact that article 156 of the Crook Code is not a best suitable for cases like this,” she stated.
A different law on spiritual discrimination is likewise required, she included.
” We likewise need a different spiritual discrimination law although Indonesia currently has the 2008 Law on the Prohibition of Racial and Ethnic Culture Discrimination. It’s time for this country to have a particular law on spiritual discrimination to match the existing discrimination law,” she said.
