Yusril on the Feri Amsari Case: Academics Free to Criticise the Government

Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra has responded to the police reports filed against academics Feri Amsari and Ubedilah Badrun following their criticism of the Prabowo Subianto administration. Yusril affirmed that academics are free to critique government policies, as there is no prohibition against it. “If they are academics, they are free to criticise the government; no one is forbidding or obstructing that,” Yusril stated, as quoted by Antara on Wednesday (22/4). Regarding academics who express criticism while holding the status of civil servants (ASN), Yusril said that ethical mechanisms should take precedence in assessing any violations, rather than immediately resorting to criminalisation. “If ethics determines there is no ethical violation, then what? What is the basis for conducting a criminal investigation?” he remarked. According to Yusril, enforcement of ethics generally precedes criminal action, unless evidence of other legal violations, such as incitement, is found. “Incitement is indeed a criminal offence. That is rather complicated, but I think this is not incitement; people expressing opinions cannot be obstructed,” he said. On the other hand, Yusril reminded that anyone has the right to report others to the police. However, every police report must go through a series of processes to determine whether it is valid to proceed to the next stage. He stated that the academics who have been reported should follow the report processing sequence, including when asked for statements. In that forum, the academics can provide clarifications. “Anyone, whether an academic or not, if the police study the matter and then invite them—not summon them—for clarification, my advice is to attend. Let the issue be clarified. Hopefully, after clarification, it does not need to be escalated to investigation or prosecution stages,” he said.