Jokowi Tells Police to Use ITE Law Wisely

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi asked the national chief of police, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, to remind officers to be wise and selective when charging people with articles of the Law on Information and Electronic Transactions, or the ITE Law for short.

He warned the police to be careful when interpreting articles that may cause misinterpretation. The president also asked the Police to develop guidelines for the official interpretation of the ITE Law's articles.

The former Jakarta governor said Indonesia is a democracy that respects freedom of opinion and organization. The nation, he said, is a rule of law that must carry out the law as fairly as possible, protect greater interests, and at the same time ensure a sense of justice for the people.

"Recently, I have seen more and more people are reporting to each other, there is a legal process that is deemed unable to fulfil that sense of justice," Jokowi said during a briefing ceremony to the Indonesian National Police, Monday, February 15.

He acknowledged that the ITE Law exists to keep Indonesia's digital space clean, healthy, ethical and productive. "But the implementation must not create a sense of injustice," said the president.

Therefore, Jokowi said, he will ask the House of Representatives to revise the ITE Law if it fails to bring justice, particularly eliminating "elastic" articles that may have multiple interpretations.

Read: DPR Deputy Speaker Support Jokowi's Plan to Revise ITE Law

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