Minister of Human Rights: Terror to the Chairman of the BEM UGM is Impossible from the Government

JAKARTA - Human Rights Minister (HAM) Natalius Pigai stated that the terror experienced by the Chairman of the Student Executive Board (BEM) of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Tiyo Ardianto could not have come from the government.

Pigai's statement was made in response to the terror against Tiyo and his family after delivering criticism of government policies.

According to him, President Prabowo Subianto has emphasized that the law should not be used by the authorities for the sake of power or silencing human rights. Therefore, he stated that the government could not possibly terrorize its citizens.

"The law will never be used as a tool for the authorities to justify the truth and silence people, never. That is why I make sure that terror is not possible from the government," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, February 20.

Regarding who the actual perpetrator of the terror is, Pigai assessed that it is the responsibility of the security forces. The Minister of Human Rights emphasized that the police must reveal the perpetrators of the terror against Tiyo and his family.

"If you make your own engineering or someone else is terrorizing, that's the police's business, then we ask the police to check, the police ask, conduct an investigation. In my opinion, it is the police who must reveal who the perpetrator actually is," he said.

In addition, Pigai highlighted Tiyo's critical narrative conveyed through a letter to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), especially in the part relating to the free nutritious meal program (MBG) to the 2029 general election.

"How can he link it to the 2029 election? Kokenggaktahu the feelings of small people who need food? Why link the 2029 election?" he said.

Pigai said criticism was allowed in a democratic country. However, the criticism should be delivered with ethics.

"If you insult, you can't. For the Indonesian nation, it is unethical. If you criticize, you can, anytime you can criticize, free, the state gives the opportunity to criticize. If you insult, don't," he said.

As previously reported, the Chairman of the UGM BEM, Tiyo Ardianto, received a WhatsApp message with a kidnapping threat from a number with an English code.

In addition to the threat of kidnapping, the intimidators also sent messages accusing Tiyo of being a foreign agent and looking for a stage. "Foreign agents. Don't look for a stage to sell garbage narratives," the message read.