IO, Jakarta – The 2019 General Elections which claimed to have many victims, now the Voting Organizers Group (KPPS) victim have reached up to 500 people, which is a bad record for this year’s Election.
In addition, the 2019 election is also becoming an arena to imprison certain people or parties that lead to criminalization.
“Besides many KPPS officers have died mysteriously, this year’s election is also where people get impersonates the most,” said Ray Rangkuti, the Director of Lingkar Madani, in a discussion titled “Kapok Pemilu Serentak” in Cikini, Menteng, Central Jakarta, Saturday (11 / 5).
Ray claimed to be surprised by the attitude of the police who seemed so easily to arrest someone who expressed an opinion and charging them with the act of treason.
“It’s OK if they imprisoned people who spreading hoax news. But what about treason? How come expressing your opinion becoming a treason. I’m not defending any side or parties, we as a citizen that living in a democratic country have rights and opportunities to speak and think freely, “said Ray Rangkuti who is also the former ‘98 activist.
According to Ray, freedom of stating an opinion and expression in a democratic country is truly an absolute thing that must be protected. That includes criticizing the government.
“How can people who have spoken in public to criticize or accuse and then be called treason? Once again, I am not defending certain parties, I am only concerned with the use of ‘act of treason’ articles,” said Ray.
“Moreover, with the legal team that monitoring the public figures, this will be ending with people no longer feels safe to stated their opinion in public. Because it is difficult to choose words that are safe just so that they will not throw in jail,” Ray added. (dsy)