Jakarta – The Civil Society Coalition has strongly criticised the efforts by the Indonesian Military (TNI) Cyber Unit to legally ensnare influencer Ferry Irwandi.
The coalition, which consists of Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial), the Raksha Initiative, the Centra Initiative, DeJuRe, the Indonesian Women's Coalition (KPI), the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), the Women's Legal Aid Foundation for Justice (LBH Apik) and the Setara Institute for Democracy, is urging the TNI can respect citizen's freedom of expression and opinion.
They also requested that the police not accept the TNI Cyber Unit report against Irwandi and other activists.
Instead of criminalising people, the Coalition believes that the TNI Cyber Unit should focus on doing work related to the threat of cyber war. The TNI, they said, should not reach far into the civil realm to the degree of influencing the law enforcement process.
"The Civil Society Coalition regrets the involvement of the TNI in monitoring cyberspace activities, which in fact strengthens the symptoms of the militarization of cyberspace", the Coalition said in a written statement on Tuesday September 9.
"Moreover from the report that was made, it gives the impression that there is an effort to intervene in the law enforcement process, which is certainly a threat to democracy and the rule of law", they said.
The coalition believes that that the move taken by the TNI Cyber Unit will only create a chilling effect on freedom of expression and opinion, as a key instrument of democracy that must be protected.
Furthermore, the existence of an effort that the Coalition referred to as the criminalisation of Irwandi, actually strengthens the signs of an effort to cover up the facts surrounding the protests and riots in late August to prevent fair and just law enforcement.
The Coalition emphasised that the TNI commander should take firm steps to conduct an internal investigation related to the alleged involvement of the Army's Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS) in the riots last month in a manner that is open and accountable.
"If there is suspicion of a criminal act, the TNI should pursue legal efforts like a criminal process, and bring the alleged perpetrator to the court, so that people know the real facts and the truth", they explained.
"The TNI must be patriotic, support the process of investigating the riots which likely involved unscrupulous members of the TNI", the Coalition added.
A number of high-ranking TNI officers visited the Jakarta Metropolitan Regional Police on Monday September 8 to hold a consultation on the alleged criminal acts committed by Irwandi.
"Our consultation was related to us finding material from the cyber patrol, we found several facts related to alleged criminal acts committed by Saudara [Brother] Ferry Irwandi", TNI Cyber Unit Commander Brigadier General J.O Sembiring told reporters.
Also present on the occasion, aside from Sembiring, was TNI Military Police Chief (Danpuspom) Major General Yusri Nuryanto and TNI Information Centre Head Brigadier General Freddy Ardianzah.
Sembiring did not however explain the alleged crime in question. He only said that the TNI would take legal steps related to this matter. (tfq/isn)
Notes
Ferry Irwandi has gained attention recently as one of the influencers behind the "17+8 People's Demands" movement, alongside public figures such as Fathia Izzati and Andovi da Lopez. In 2023 he founded the educational platform the Malaka Project and has since built a strong online following with 1.92 million YouTube subscribers. He frequently uploads political commentary including videos on the recent August protests and riots. Eight days ago he posted "The Puppet Master of the Protests and Preventing a Military Emergency", followed two days later by "A Full Explanation of the Series of Protests and Solutions".
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Koalisi Sipil Kritik TNI Bidik Ferry Irwandi: Militerisasi Ruang Siber".]
