Indonesia: Police To Drop Probe into Alleged Hate Speech by President’s Son

Indonesian authorities say they have found nothing criminal in a vlog post by President Joko Widodo’s youngest son, after a police report alleged that he had insulted religion and spread hate speech in a video uploaded on his YouTube account in May.

In the video, Kaesang Pangarep, 22, criticizes behavior of some Muslims during protests against former Jakarta Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, who was convicted of blasphemy in May in a case that exposed the rising clout of conservative Islam in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

“Fanning conflict, throwing around ‘infidel’ accusations. Refusing to pray at the death of fellow Muslims, just because of differences in choosing a leader. What’s that about?” Kaesang says in the video, in a line cited in the police report.

He goes on to characterize such behavior as “ndeso,” a slang word meaning backwards or not modern.

The investigation “is not being continued. No criminal element was found,” Jakarta Metro Police spokesman Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said Thursday.

Police consulted three linguists about the remark and determined it was not an insult, Argo was quoted as saying in the Indonesian news outlet Tempo.

“There is no criminal element,” Deputy Police Chief Syafruddin told reporters at police headquarters in Jakarta.

Kaesang – whose YouTube channel has 31 videos, more than 300,000 subscribers and 21 million views – is currently accompanying his father on a working trip to Europe.

Presidential spokesman Johan Budi declined to comment on the case. “Wait for the president or Kaesang to come home from Turkey and Germany,” he said.

Full story: BenarNews

Arie Firdaus
Jakarta