The case that ensnared a student from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) with the initials SSS became a polemic. In this case, the public is wondering whether criticism should be in line with promoting ethics?
SSS was arrested by police in Sumedang Regency, West Java, Tuesday (6/5/2025). He is suspected of making an artificial intelligence (AI) meme that contains images, which according to many Indonesians, are inappropriate. The images in question are Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo (Jokowi) kissing.
The image was uploaded on his X social media last March. Head of the Public Information Bureau of the Public Relations Division of the National Police, Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, said that the process of investigating the case that ensnared SSS began with a report dated March 24, 2025.
After going through the investigation process, the police arrested SSS on May 7. The student was named a suspect and charged with Article 45 paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 27 paragraph (1) and Article 51 paragraph (1) of the Electronic Information and Transaction Law (UU ITE) with a penalty of 12 years in prison and a fine of IDR 1 billion.
However, Bareskrim Polri suspended his detention on the basis of an application from the person concerned, parents, attorneys, and ITB. Through his attorney, Khaerudin Hamid Ali Sulaiman, SSS apologized to Prabowo and Jokowi for the meme. He also regretted his actions.
However, the case that ensnared SSS has received the attention of many parties. Both in terms of law, politics, and moral norms. Indonesia, which is still thick with eastern culture, sees the image of Prabowo and Jokowi's kiss as unethical. But from a political perspective, this is considered an expression of unrest over the situation in the country.
A number of political observers consider the memes made by SSS as nothing more than criticism of Prabowo and Jokowi. Dedi Kurnia Syah as Executive Director of the Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) said the appearance of the meme image was not a big thing in political and democratic nuances.
According to Dedi, political elites should be given the freedom to be criticized, and there is no limit to that.
"With the summons to the status of suspects in the image maker, this is actually a threat of civil liberties and there are efforts to spread fear in the public to incult political figures," said Dedi when contacted by VOI.
"The DPR must return to building, making regulations or revising related regulations, so that public flexibility is again given," he added.
The same thing was said by researchers from the Center for Political Studies at the University of Indonesia (Puskapol UI) Teuku Harza Mauludi. He understands that the meme is an insinuation of the current Indonesian political situation, which according to him is so pragmatic, aka prioritizing compromise over ideology.
This, said Harza, was because Prabowo and Jokowi before the 2024 presidential election were two opposing people. They are now united because of something transactional in nature.
"It's like, 'Okay, I (Jokowi) support you (Prabowo), but you (Prabowo) make my son vice president', for example. That's fine if you want to be criticized in the form of art or meme," Harza explained.
Criticism or satire containing similar images is actually not new, especially in Western countries, according to Harza's observations. In 2016, a mural image of United States President Donald Trump kissed Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The image was also made as a form of criticism because Trump is considered too subservable and soft to Russia, leaving Russia's lot of interest in Ukraine's war and benefiting Russia.
If pulled back, in 1990 to be precise, there was also a kiss scene between Eastern German leader Erich Honecker and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev on the Berlin Wall.
The mural contained satire over the pressure felt by the people of East Germany under communist rule.
"It was also a form of satire in his time, although there was no artificial intelligence, such an artistic form had existed for a long time and in the Western world it was considered legal and normal," explained Harza.
This kind of meme cannot be accepted by some Indonesian people who uphold character and masculinity. The Indonesian people are not used to seeing two men kissing, especially what is circulating now is a big figure. So, instead of being seen as a satire or criticism, Prabowo and Jokowi memes are seen in terms of decency.
"They don't focus on criticism, instead they focus on the picture, which seems to be just to attack the sexuality of the two figures," Harza explained.
"In fact, if we give up that context, actually (meme) is criticizing Indonesia's democracy at this time."
Contacted separately, criminal law observer Farizal Pranata Bahri said that the determination of the suspect for the ITB SSS student by the police was appropriate. Farizal emphasized that the head of state is a symbol of government so that his honor must be maintained by the law that regulates it.
"It doesn't mean limiting freedom of expression, but freedom must also be limited by normative rules that have been regulated in previous laws," explained Farizal.
Furthermore, Farizal did not judge that there was something wrong with the imposition of the ITE Law to ensnare SSS, as many people have talked about. According to him, the article outlines digital actions that change or manipulate or damage a person's image or photo so that it seems authentic to the goal against the law.
"The authenticity here includes making the original photo into a meme or caricature so that it resembles the original in a digital way," said Farizal again.
The lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Mulawarman University, Samarinda, Herdiansyah Hamzah, believes that the detention of SSS who was charged with the article on decency of the ITE Law is unreasonable. He encouraged law enforcers to see this meme as a work of art.
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"Jokowi and Prabowo's kiss in the context of works of art is the fruit of freedom of expression and the intention is to give a message to the public that there is excessive and unnatural intimacy," he said.
Former President Jokowi himself has responded to the meme of his face which has gone viral. According to the father of Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, a picture of himself and Prabowo is going too far.
He warned all parties that in democracy, it does not mean that everything can be done without heeding the ethics in force in Indonesia.
"Don't make democracy mean anything, it's okay, there's a limit," he said.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
