Indonesian officials and other powerful people are increasingly using the country’s draconian criminal libel laws to silence critics and stymie democratic debate, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.
The US-based watchdog urged the government to repeal the criminal libel and defamation laws to protect free speech, as it released research showing how such legislation was being used to intimidate critics and whistleblowers.
“Criminal defamation is a potent weapon for those who want to silence critics in Indonesia,” HRW deputy Asia director Elaine Pearson said in a statement accompanying the report. “The government ought to be encouraging whistle-blowers and people who express their concerns peacefully to speak out freely, instead of punishing them.”
The 91-page “Turning Critics Into Criminals” report said that in most criminal defamation cases, the law had been used to retaliate against people who had accused officials or “powerful interests” of graft or misconduct.
It cited the example of mother-of-two Prita Mulyasari, 32, who was jailed for three weeks and spent a year in litigation for writing e-mails to her friends complaining about poor treatment at a local hospital.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a new law in 2008 setting out tougher penalties for online defamation.
“Criminal defamation laws undermine democracy, the rule of law and freedom of expression in Indonesia. The government should not send those brave enough to speak their minds to prison,” Pearson said.
Indonesia Corruption Watch deputy coordinator Illian Deta Arta Sari said the defamation law was hindering the fight against corruption in Indonesia.
“One of the reasons people don’t want to speak out is because there’s no legal protection for those who report corrupt practices,” she told a press conference. “This law has silenced activists and ordinary people. As long as this law exists, our country won’t be free from corruption. It has fertilised corruption in this country.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of