Legislator Blames Gov't for 'Elastic' ITE Law in Baiq Nuril Case

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - House of Representatives (DPR) Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah regrets that the Supreme Court (MA) rejected the appeal for a case review (PK) submitted by Baiq Nuril who is a non-permanent teacher at a high school convicted under the electronic information and transactions (UU ITE) for exposing her alleged sexual harasser.

The legislator blamed the UU ITE as a "rubber law" with elastic clauses that can be misused against the victims of criminal cases.

“The UU ITE is misguided, it’s better for the government to revoke that law. How can someone who is defending herself become the suspect,” said Fahri Hamzah at the parliamentary complex on Friday, July 5^th.

Furthermore, Fahri deemed that the Supreme Court’s verdict has disrupted the sense of justice among people. “A person has been sexually harassed, the evidence was recorded but she (Baiq Nuril) is the one that is convicted. That does not make sense. The government can’t just stand still,” he said.

The Supreme Court said that Baiq’s reasoning behind the PK could not be accepted and MA’s initial decision overturned a lower court’s verdict found her guilty of transmitting “immoral content” overseen by the ITE Law.

The justices believed that Baiq Nuril had circulated a recording of a lewd phone call between her and former SMAN 7 Mataram high school principal, Muslim, by handing her cellphone to another person that eventually was distributed. Judges found that her actions were “unacceptable” and for that reason alone Baiq’s case review was rejected.

DEWI NURITA

Read: Indonesian Government Pushed to Drop the UU ITE Rubber-Law