Pigai: Amien Rais's Statement Regarding Prabowo-Teddy Allegedly Violates Human Rights

Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai assesses that Amien Rais’s statement regarding the closeness between President Prabowo Subianto and Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya does not automatically fall under freedom of expression. He states that the statement instead has the potential to violate human rights. “Amien Rais’s statement does not automatically enter the category of freedom of expression. In the context of human rights, Amien can be suspected of committing an act of human rights violation,” Pigai said in a written statement on Sunday (3/5). According to him, Amien Rais’s statement is suspected of containing elements of inhuman treatment, namely verbal actions that can cause severe mental attacks. In addition, the statement is also assessed to have the potential to degrade the dignity of Prabowo and Teddy. “Verbal torture or verbal violence. Verbal humiliation or bullying or verbal harassment that uses words to demean, humiliate, intimidate, or hurt someone emotionally and psychologically,” he said. He urged Amien not to hide behind freedom of speech because, according to him, freedom of speech has limits. Previously, Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid spoke out regarding the video uploaded by Amien Rais on his YouTube channel about the closeness between President Prabowo Subianto and Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya. “The Ministry of Communications and Digital has identified the spread of a video containing defamatory narratives, character assassination, and personal attacks directed at the President of the Republic of Indonesia. The video was uploaded by the Chairman of the Shura Council of the Ummah Party [Amien Rais],” Meutya said in an official Instagram post from Komdigi on Saturday (2/5). Meutya described Amien Rais’s statement as containing hate speech. She assessed that his statement could potentially divide the nation. “Komdigi emphasises that the content of the video is hoaxes, slander, and contains hate speech. The narrative built is an effort to degrade the dignity of the Highest State Leader, lacks factual basis, and is part of provocation to create public unrest. This has the potential to divide the nation,” Meutya stated. Meanwhile, Amien stated that he is prepared to be taken to the legal route if the mentioned parties object and can prove his accusations. “I was told by legal experts that Komdigi has no authority. So the one with authority is Teddy, and that will be taken to court. And in court, I am very confident, show it! I ask for several specialist doctors whether he is gay or not. That’s it, then we’ll chat again,” Amien said when met after the Ummah Party National Conference in Sleman on Sunday (3/5).