House Speaker Urges Jokowi to Pardon Baiq Nuril

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - House of Representatives (DPR) speaker Bambang Soesatyo said that its Commission III requested that President Jokowi pardon honorary senior high school teacher Baiq Nuril.

Baiq Nuril is currently facing prison time for disclosing her sexual harasser to the public. She faces 6 months' imprisonment and a fine up to Rp500 million after her second appeal for a case review (PK) was rejected by the Supreme Court (MA).

In the previous trial, Baiq was found to have violated Article 27 of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law. She was found guilty of recording her conversations with her school’s then-principle H. Muslim via telephone recording.

H. Muslim in the recording had allegedly sexually harassed Baiq Nuril. This recording eventually came to light after another person spread it through the internet. 

Read: Jokowi: Baiq Nuril May Request Amnesty

The ITE law is under heavy criticism as it was viewed as suppressing the freedom of expression and democracy. In this case, Baiq Nuril said she was actually trying to protect herself by recording the lewd phone conversation with her former employer.

As for ITE Law’s revision, Bambang Soesatyo said that he would solicit inputs from varied sources before revising the law. He said that the House’s Commission I still viewed the law as important in keeping citizens’ honor from the potential spread of harmful information.

BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI