Jakarta, IO – The Constitutional Court (MK) partially approved the petition for judicial review of a number of articles filed by activists Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti concerning defamation and fake news.
MK annuled Articles 14 and 15 of Law 1/1946 on Thursday (21/3), per Detikcom, Fri (22/3). In their petition, Haris and Fatia appealed to MK to declare the two articles non-binding and in contravention of the 1945 Constitution.
The articles in questions are Article 14 and Article 15 of Law 1/1946 in conjunction with Law 4/1976, as well as Article 14 and Article 15 of Law 1/1946 in conjunction with Law 4/1976.
The petitioners also asked MK to declare that Article 310(1) of the Criminal Code and Article 27(3) juncto Article 45(3) of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law as legally non-binding.
Lead by chief justice Suhartoyo, MK in its legal consideration stated that the petitioners’ demand pertaining to the ITE Law unsubtantive because a revision has been made by the House. However, MK partially approved the other petitions.
MK ruled that the first petition on Articles 14 and 15 of Law 1/1946 and Article 310(1) of Criminal Code do not run counter to the 1945 Constitution (unconstitutional) and are not legally binding.
MK stated that Article 310(1) of the Criminal Code that reads “Anyone who deliberately attacks someone’s honor or good name by accusing them of something, with the clear intention of making it known to the public, is threatened with defamation with a maximum prison sentence. nine months or a maximum fine of four thousand five hundred rupiah” is contrary to the 1945 Constitution and is legally non-binding so long as it is not interpreted as: “Anyone who deliberately attacks someone’s honor or good name by accusing someone of something verbally, the purpose of which is clear so that the If it is publicly known, the threat for pollution is a maximum imprisonment of nine months or a maximum fine of four thousand five hundred rupiah.”
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Haris and Fatia previously argued that the existence of the articles filed for judicial review actually obstructed the petitioners whose work is advocating human rights and eradication of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).
In addition, the petitioners filed a judicial review of this article because it is often used to criminalize parties who are critical of state officials or government policies. (un)