KOMPAS.com – The Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) regrets the criminalization efforts that are contrary to the agenda of fighting hoaxes.
“Today’s situation with the start of disinformation in the elections and regional elections, there are criminalization efforts,” said Executive Director of Perludem, Khoirunnisa Nur Agustyati in the Indonesia Fact-Checking Summit at Lumire Hotel Jakarta, Thursday (7/11/2024).
The woman who is familiarly called Ninis was responding to a question about the case against former Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights, Denny Indrayana.
For context, Denny was reported to the Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) of the National Police for commenting on the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) regarding the electoral system.
The professor of constitutional law made a tweet about the judicial review of Law Number 7 Year 2017, which basically changed the electoral system from open proportional to closed proportional.
However, it turned out that the Constitutional Court decided that the election would still be conducted openly.
“Actually what was conveyed was not a hoax, but a prediction. So his statement was delivered before the Constitutional Court issued a statement,” said Ninis.
However, there are parties who take the opportunity to criminalize Denny on the basis of spreading hoaxes.
This action is considered not in line with democracy, which prioritizes freedom of speech and opinion.
The reporting did not pay attention to the context, that what Denny said was equivalent to a prediction.
For example, in the context of regional elections, there are survey institutions or observers who predict who will win.
Ninis said that making predictions does not mean spreading hoaxes.
Criminalization efforts, such as those experienced by Denny, are considered contrary to the work that has been carried out by the Fact Check collaboration.
So far, the Fact Check collaboration has endeavored to create a healthy information ecosystem during general elections (elections).
Labeling hoaxes cannot be done carelessly because it has a methodology, while still prioritizing freedom of opinion and expression.
When hoax labeling is done carelessly, even used to criminalize someone, it is contrary to democratic values.
“When someone comments, but is immediately labeled a hoax, bullied, then reported to the police, this is actually a challenge to democracy,” said Ninis.
“This is a sign, an alert for democracy in general,” he said.
This article has been published on Kompas.com with the title “Submission of Predictions is Not a Hoax, Perludem Regrets if There is Criminalization”, https://www.kompas.com/cekfakta/read/2024/11/07/181800382/penyampaian-prediks