Ex-Minister Convicted After Mocking President Jokowi with Memes

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Former Minister for Youths and Sports Roy Suryo was found guilty in a hate speech case. He was reported to the police after mocking President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) with two humorous memes.

The memes showed photos of statues at the Borobudur Temple which were edited to reflect President Widodo's face.

Roy Suryo shared those memes in the middle of this year. The writings on the memes were mocking the rising cost of plane tickets, the new capital project, and the national debt while also sending criticism to the influential minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. 

He was then reported for blasphemy to the police by the leader of a Buddhist organization called Dharmapala Nusantara.

The judge found his meme could incite hatred between religions, although Roy Suryo insisted that he was not the original creator of those memes.

"The defendant is not showing himself as a public figure or telemathics expert or someone with high educational background who understands the ethics in using social media," said Chief Judge Martin Ginting on Thursday (29/12/2022).

The fact that Roy Suryo appreciated the memes became an incriminating aspect in his punishment. But the court stated that Roy Suryo's polite attitude during the trial and his past services were cited as the alleviating effect to his sentence.

Roy Suryo also already apologized to the Buddhist people.

The nine months sentence is lower than the prosecutors' demand which was 18 months. Roy Suryo's legal team is still considering whether to make an appeal or not.