JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/ANN): President Joko Jokowi Widodo has instructed the National Police to devise a guideline for the law enforcement body in handling online defamation cases amid rising concerns that the nation’s cyberlaw has been repeatedly abused to silence government critics.
The draconian Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law and its vague provisions on what constitutes defamation on the web have long been criticised by activists for curbing freedom of speech and expression in the country.
Addressing an annual joint meeting of the police and the military on Monday, Jokowi said he was aware that the implementation of the law had often incurred “a sense of unfairness” among the public and therefore called the police to selectively process cases that violate the law.