LEGAL PERSPECTIVES CONCERNING HATE SPEECH IN INDONESIA

Abstract

In Indonesia there is concern on hate speech that causes conflict and seems to be on the rise and unchecked. There is general consensus that this must be resolved. The focus of this research is to investigate the legal mechanisms used by the Indonesian government to resolve the problem of hate speech. The Research Question is:  What are the characteristics of hate speech and what legal mechanisms are there in Indonesia to contain it. Hate speech data, which was of public concern, and already decided upon in court, was obtained from online media. The legal considerations used by the court to decide on hate speech were identified to determine the legal mechanisms used by the government to resolve problems arising from hate speech. The findings reveal: 1) the indicators used by the government to differentiate freedom of expression from hate space. Hate speech has been found to be associated to contempt, defamation, unpleasant deeds, provocation, instigation and hoax. Hate speech is also carried out in the following contexts: through speeches, campaign activities, displayed on banners, on social media networks, public opinion delivery (demonstrations), religious lectures, print and electronic mass media, pamphlets. 2) The legal mechanism used by the Government is to carry out prevention / preventive (non-penal), and provide sanctions / repressive (penal). The court's decisions on what constituted hate speech matched with the regulations in force in Indonesia regarding human rights.