56 Dictating the Internet: Indonesia In Indonesia, defamation provisions in the Penal Code and the Law on Electronic Information and Transactions (Law No. 11 of 2008) (‘UU ITE’), in themselves not human rights compliant, have been applied in practice by State authorities to impermissibly limit freedom of expression and information online.166 Chapter XVI of Indonesia’s Penal Code, including sections 310 to 321, criminalizes defamation with up to four years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of 300 Rupiah (approx. USD 0.02). Sections 310 and 311 allow for a maximum punishment of 16 months’ imprisonment for “intentionally harming a person’s reputation” to be increased to four years’ imprisonment where the accused person fails to prove truth as a defence. Section 316 allows for punishments to be “enhanced with a third” for alleged defamation against an official “during or on the subject of the legal exercise of his office”.167 Pending draft amendments to the Penal Code raise further concerns that criminal defamation may be extended to insults against the President or Vice President, insults against Islam and public insults against “general authority or state institutions”. Contempt of court penalties of between one to five years’ imprisonment are also problematic.168 The draft amendments also contain provisions allowing for criminal penalties to be brought against a person for spreading “hoax news”.169 In 2008, the UU ITE was passed, and thereafter revised in 2016, to regulate electronic information and transactions, including criminal penalties for online defamation of up to four years’ imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of 1 bil. Rupiah (approx. USD 52,300), and up to 12 years’ imprisonment 166 ICJ has called for Thailand’s criminal defamation laws to be repealed or amended in line with Thailand’s international legal obligations. See for eg. ICJ, ‘Thailand: misuse of laws restricts fundamental freedoms (UN statement)’, 14 March 2018, Available at: https://www.icj.org/ hrc37thailand/; ICJ, ‘Thailand: verdict in Andy Hall case underscores need for defamation to be decriminalized’, 20 September 2016, Available at: https://www.icj.org/thailand-verdict-in-andy-hall-case-underscores-need-for-defamation-to-bedecriminalized/; ICJ, ‘Thailand: end prosecution of Phuketwan journalists and repeal criminal defamation laws’, 1 September 2015, Available at: https://www.icj.org/thailand-end-prosecutionof-phuketwan-journalists-and-repeal-criminal-defamation-laws/ 167 English translation of Penal Code of Indonesia, Available at: https://www.oecd.org/site/ adboecdanti-corruptioninitiative/46814438.pdf 168 Kate Walton, ‘Indonesia’s Criminal Code revisions: politics or religion?’, New Naratif, 8 February 2018, Available at: https://newnaratif.com/journalism/indonesias-criminal-code-revisions-politicsreligion/ 169 [Bahasa Indonesia] M Rosseno Aji, ‘Ini 10 Pasal RKUHP yang ancam Kebebasan Pers menurut LBH Pers’, Available at: https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1250897/ini-10-pasal-rkuhp-yang-ancamkebebasan-pers-menurut-lbh-pers/full&view=ok; [Bahasa Indonesia] Scholastica Gerintya, ‘Periksa Data- Jerat UU ITE Banyak Dipakai oleh Pejabat Negara’, 18 October 2018, Available at: https://tirto.id/jerat-uu-ite-banyak-dipakai-oleh-pejabat-negara-c7sk