Deputy Minister Of Religion Speaks About Meme Borobudur Stupa Similar To Jokowi, Asks Police To Completely Investigate

Illustration-(Photo: DOK ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Religion Zainut Tauhid Sa'adi opened his voice regarding the Borobudur stupa meme which was edited to resemble President Joko Widodo. Zainut asked the police to thoroughly investigate those who created and spread the meme.

"Regarding the posting of the Borobudur stupa meme that looks like Pak Jokowi, I leave it to the police to investigate the matter and investigate all parties involved for further legal proceedings in accordance with the provisions of the applicable laws," said Zainut in his statement, Friday, June 17.

The Deputy Wantim of the Central Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) asked all parties not to use religious symbols as material for ridicule or jokes. Because, it can hurt the feelings of the religious community concerned.

"Whatever the reason, these actions are unethical and are not justified by religion and laws and regulations. These actions can be categorized as SARA actions," he said.

According to him, freedom of expression, whether in the form of criticism or suggestions, should be carried out in a polite, wise and ethical manner, not in a sarcastic way and violating moral, legal and religious norms.

"I urge the whole community to be wiser and careful in using social media. Do not be quick to post or spread news, whether news in the form of photos, videos, memes or narrative content that contains hate speech, slander and SARA," said Zainut.

For information, this problem began when the former Minister of Youth and Sports Roy Suryo uploaded a meme of the Borobudur Temple stupa similar to Jokowi's face through his Twitter account @KRMTRoySuryo2 recently.

The meme photo is set in the background of Borobudur Temple with a narrative that also smacks of the government's plan to increase the entrance fee to Bodobudur Temple.

"During the weekend, twit lightly. In line with the protest against the plan to increase the ticket price to Borobudur Temple (from 50 thousand) to 750 thousand which (as appropriate) was DELAYED, a lot of netizens' creativity changed one of the iconic open stupas in Borobudur, FUNNY, he-3x AMBYAR," wrote Roy Suryo in the description of his upload.

After a lot of criticism, Roy Suryo deleted the post. Then, Roy Suryo reported three Twitter accounts that he considered the first time to upload the Borobudur stupa meme to Polda Metro Jaya.

Roy Suryo's report has been received and registered with Number LP/B/2970/VI/2022/SPKT/Polda Metro Jaya. The reported party is suspected of violating Article 28 Paragraph 2 in conjunction with Article 45 Paragraph 2 of the ITE Law regarding hate speech.