Ambroncius Nababan, Who Uploaded A Photo Of Natalius Pigai Alongside A Gorilla, Is A Suspect

Natalius Pigai whose photos are juxtaposed with gorillas. Uploader who is also a Hanura cadre is a suspect (DOK. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Criminal Investigation Unit of Indonesian National Police (Bareskrim Polri) has named a Hanura Party cadre Ambroncius Nababan as a suspect in a case of alleged racial hate speech. The determination of the suspect is based on the case title.

"Then after the title of the case, the conclusion of the case title is to raise the status on behalf of AN to become a suspect," said Head of Public Relations Division of the National Police, Inspector General Argo Yuwono to reporters, Tuesday, January 26.

The title of the case was led by the Head of Investigator Supervisory Bureau of Bareskrim Polri. Participating in the title of the case, namely the Cyber Crime Investigator, the Division of Profession and Security (Propam), Inspectorate of General Supervision (Itwasum) and Legal Field (Bidkum) of National Police.

Before the title of a case, investigators have asked witnesses and experts for testimony, namely language and crime.

"There are 5 witnesses who have been examined, including expert witnesses, namely criminal experts and linguists who we have examined," he said.

Ambroncius Nababan is subject to suspicion in Article 45A paragraph (2) Jo Article 28 paragraph (2) Law Number 19 Year 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 Year 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions, and/or Article 16 Jo Article 4 letters b paragraph (1) of Law Number 40 of 2008 concerning the elimination of racial and ethnic discrimination and / or Article 156 of the Criminal Code.

In this case, Ambroncius Nababan underwent an examination at the Police Criminal Investigation Unit, on Monday, January 25. Before being examined, he admitted that the post was his act. But the post was not intended to be offensive. But only to criticize Natalius Pigai.

"There is nothing (racist). (Just to) criticize," said Ambroncius.

Ambroncius Nababan has to face the law because he was reported on suspicion of hate speech on social media. Through his Facebook account, he insulted Papuan activist Natalius Pigai by juxtaposing him with a picture of a gorilla.

The criticism, said Ambroncius, was directed at Natalius Pigai because he did not believe in the Sinovac vaccine. But his disbelief was expelled to the public. So, it can interfere with government programs.

"That Mr. Pigai please if you disagree with Sinovac, it doesn't matter. Everyone can disagree, but don't expose that you don't believe in Sinovac. And (mentioning) I will buy products from abroad. That's a provocation, that's the bottom line," he explained.

Regardless of the reasons behind it, Ambroncius admitted that the post was his doing. However, for the gorilla image juxtaposed with Natalius Pigai's photo, Ambroncius admitted to getting it from one of his colleagues.

"And actually the picture, I actually quoted it, I copied and pasted it. That was at the same time, I found Fatimah's (account) apparently. She posted that too but no one say she was racist, and I was looking for other things, apparently there were many. "Those people has never been said to be racist. But why when I copy-paste it, people call me as a racist," said Ambroncius.