When You Tempted (to Insult Someone in Your Facebook)

The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it;… if you can’t ignore it, top it; … if you can’t top it, laugh at it; … if you can’t laugh at it, it’s probably deserved. ~J. Russel Lynes

In cyber world, you can say anything you want to say, well.. nearly almost everything!. Everyone can have freedom of speech, different point of view, even narcissistic status update, but we’re also bound to ethics. You may express your dislike about someone, but to humiliate the person online is another thing. It’s even worse to do it in writings than by talking because the evidence is there, written black on white, and the victim or people who disagree with you may report you on the basis of objectionable act.

I can’t help but notice that at least 3 events had taken place related to this online insult. All done by Indonesian young people on their Facebook accounts, emotionally writing their disdain without being aware of its impact, and caught numerous attention from the victim, other online user, and the media who raised up the issue. Let’s check them out:

1. Teen Love Triangle: Ujang, Farah and Felly Fandini

It’s a silly teen jealousy case, actually. They are all at age 18 and high school pupils in Bogor. Farah is Ujang Romansyah’s girlfriend and Felly Fandini is his old close friend. On June 23, 2009 through Facebook, Felly wrote a message to Ujang, asking why would he want to go out with a girl like Farah. Farah saw the message and fused by jealousy she replied it using really harsh words:

Hai a***ng lo nggak usah ikut campur, dirimu hanya b**i sok gaya!” (rough translation: "Hey b*tch, this is none of your business, you ugly p*g!")

Felly who didn’t know the message was actually written by someone else became really upset with Ujang and she then reported him to the police over the accusation of defamation and objectionable act. Later on, of course, it was disclosed that it was Farah who did the disdain by writings and now she faced the charge of 5 months imprisonment over 10 months probation. (This means if she commit another crime within the probation period, she would need to actually serve her sentence in prison). Farah must thank the the district attorney who was wise enough not to use the dreaded UU ITE of which threat is up to 6 years jail term.

2. Evan Brimob: A Young Police’s Arrogance

The young police is called Evan Brimob, part of South Sumatra Police Corps. He made quite a sentiment remark on his Facebook status in November 2009 during the heyday of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) vs Indonesian Police Corps (Polri) dispute. The dispute itself was famously nicknamed as Cicak vs Buaya case, where Cicak (Lizard) referred to KPK and Buaya (Crocodile) was addressed for Polri. While a lot of Facebookers supported KPK and urged Polri to release the arrested KPK leaders Bibit and Chandra; he on the contrary claimed:

“Polri gak butuh masyarakat.. tapi masyarakat yg butuh polri.. maju terus kepolisian Indonesia, telan hidup2 cicak kecil.” (The police doesn’t need society.. it’s the society who needs the police.. Long live Indonesian Police Corps, eat alive the little lizards..)

The contemning status inevitably received numerous negative response, and even bigger attention when the media reported it through the national news. Due to huge protest, even the high-rank police official finally felt the need to publicly apologize for this junior’s misdemeanor and uttered that Evan would have the appropriate sanction. Evan himself had then apologized by publishing new FB status saying “The truth is that both Polri and society need each other. Let’s fight corruption together.”

A little bit too late, I thought, seeing all the earlier defiant comments he addressed to other users who disagree with him. And who knows if he really believes the revised paradigm of mutual codependent between Polri and society.. probably his boss made him write it, but it’s certainly necessary to put this controversy to an end.

3. High School Pupils Insulting Their Teacher on Facebook

The newest case about the online insult I read in Kompas.com was about four pupils from SMA 4 Tanjung Pinang. On January 2010, they wrote harsh and humiliating words in their Facebook account about their vocational teacher named Mrs Yunita. The teacher said it was probably because they didn’t like the assignments she gave them. Following the consultation between the school board and Tanjung Pinand Education Official, the four pupils were finally expelled from the school. The dismissal were regretted by their friends, hoping they could be given second chance and the teacher should’ve introspected herself on why the pupils can made such disdainful comments about her. I have to say that I’m agree with their friends.

An old Indonesian proverb said “Mulutmu Harimaumu” (Your mouth is your tiger). And as we saw from those above cases, it’s indeed so true and applicable as well in cyber world, especially for the young people. The vulnerable thin line is to differentiate which one is an accountable expression of mind from that of being offensive and defamatory. But it shouldn’t stop you from expressing your opinion. Just need to do it responsibly, I suppose.

Oh, and don’t forget to pray for Indonesian state prosecutors and judges be bestowed wisdom and justice when deciding on sensible cases of freedom of speech, now that the UU ITE has been finally legitimated…