Ratu Thalisa is a prominent Indonesian social media content creator with 44k TikTok followers who has been in the news after she was sentenced to a three year jail term for blasphemy. The social media influence has been indicted for inciting hatred against the Christian community under the nation’s contentious online hate speech law. Ratu Thalisa is a transgender woman who landed herself in a soup after she suggested in a video for Jesus to have a haircut.
She was convicted by a court in Medan City, Sumatra, on Monday. The court while handing out the sentence observed that such comments could disrupt public order and disturb religious harmony of the society.
The ruling has however irked human rights groups and Amnesty International is demanding the Indonesian Government to immediately release Thalisa.
Thalisa a.k.a. Ratu Entok was hosting a live stream on 2 October 2024 on social media platform TikTok when a viewer suggested that she must have a haircut to look more masculine.
Thalisa, in response held a picture of Jesus Christ and said,
“You should not look like a woman. You should cut your hair so that you will look like his father.”
Thalisa must have been joking but her remarks did not go down well with the minority Christian community. Five Chrstian groups filed a complaint against Thalisa and she was detained four days later and was indicted of blasphemy and hate speech against a particular religion.
On Monday, a district court in Medan, North Sumatra sentenced her to jail term extending two years and ten months in prison. She was also slapped with a fine of 100,000,000 IDR (Rs 5.30 lakh) for the offence.
The sentencing of Thalisa sparked a huge outrage with human rights groups condemning the jail term as an attack on the freedom of expression of the content creator. Many rights groups termed the sentencing as another example of the misuse of the draconian Indonesia’s Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) law.
Amnesty International Indonesia’s executive director, Usman Hamid, said,
“This prison sentence is a shocking attack on Ratu Thalisa’s freedom of expression. The Indonesian authorities should not use the country’s Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) law to punish people for comments made on social media. While Indonesia should prohibit the advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, Ratu Thalisa’s speech act does not reach that threshold.”
Hamid appealed for the release of the content creator and also demanded that the EIT Law be revised and the removal of certain problematic sections of the law.
