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Indonesia is taking energetic measures against a viral pirate flag that is spreading as a symbol of political protest before Independence Day.
The Jolly Roger Skull and Bones with a straw hat, from the Japanese anime series “One Piece”, has been fluttering with a growing number of trucks, cars and houses.
The officials warn the “provocation”, seen by many as a protest against the policies of President Pabowo Subianto, should not fly along with the red and white flag of the country.
The pirate banner was taken by discontent truck drivers earlier this summer, but recently it has become an online movement and real life.
“Personally I lifted the flag of one piece because the red and white flag is too sacred to be raised in this corrupt country,” Khariq Anhar, a 24 -year -old university student in the province of Riau de Sumatra, told AFP.
“I think there is freedom of expression in Indonesia, but it is very limited. Explaining your opinion is becoming more dangerous.”
Government officials say that the use of the flag is an attempt to divide the nation.
They warn that it can be prohibited from flying next to the colors of Indonesia, or being raised on August 17, the 80th anniversary of independence after Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.
“It is imperative that they refrain from creating provocation with symbols that are not relevant to the fight of this country,” said Security Director Budi Gunawan in a statement last week.
Ministers have cited a law that prohibits a higher symbol from flying than the national flag as a basis for any punishment.
According to that law, the intention to desecrate, insult or degrade the flag entails a maximum prison sentence of five years or a fine of almost $ 31,000.
The Minister of the Secretary of State, Paseteto Hadi, said Tuesday that Pabowo had no problem with the “creativity expression”, but the two flags “should not be placed side by side in a way that invites the comparison,” local media reported.
‘Just a cartoon’
A spokesman for the presidency did not answer a question of the AFP about his position on the pirate flag, which was put two days before.
Experts say that unhappy Indonesians are using the flag as a way of expressing the indirectly anti -government sensation, with some of Pabowo’s economic and defense policies that cause concern for democratic recoil.
“The symbols such as the pirate flag allowed people to channel frustration without spelling it,” said Dedi Dinarto, a leading Indonesian analyst at the Global Counsel Advisory firm.
“It reflects a public feeling that parts of the country have been ‘kidnapped’.”
Others, such as food saleswoman Andri Saputra, who has flown to Pirate Ensign under an Indonesian flag at home for a week, they say they want to be able to decide what symbols they show.
“I want to be free to express my opinion and express myself,” said the 38 -year -old player in Boyolali Regncy in downtown Java.
“This is just a cartoon flag of Japan.”
Online culture has been a popular channel for indonesia dissatisfaction against corruption of perceived government and nepotism.
The Japanese anime is popular in Indonesia, and in the manga ‘One Piece’ manga series created in 1997, the flag represents the opposition to an authoritarian world government.
In February, the protests known as ‘Dark Indonesia’ began against the generalized budget cuts of Pabowo, caused by a logo published in the social networks that shows a mythical bird of Garuda of black Indonesia along with the words ’emergency warning’.
Other demonstrations in 2016 and 2019 were also provoked online, and Dedi says that the government may be worried that “this follows the same book of digital plays.”
There is also a generational division, with major locals who see the Indonesian flag as hardness after centuries of colonial domain, while the younger Indonesians see the new movement as an expression of disappointment.
Police incursion
“They just want Indonesia to improve, but they can only express it through the ‘One Piece’ flag,” said Ismail Fahmi, founder of Social Indonesian Monitor Monitor Drone Emprit.
The Police in the province of Banten, the neighboring capital, Yakarta and the province of Occidental Java, the most populous in Indonesia, have threatened the action if the flag is taken to the side of the colors of the nation.
An owner of a printing business in Java Central told AFP on anonymity that its installation was raided by the Cañas Police on Wednesday night to stop its production of the pirate emblem.
Rights groups have described the excessive response and say that Indonesians can shake the flag by law.
“Raising the ‘One Piece’ flag as a criticism is part of freedom of expression and is guaranteed by the Constitution,” said the executive director of Amnesty International of Indonesia, Usman Hamid.
Despite the threats of the government, some young Indonesians are still willing to risk walking through the protest table.
“Last night, my friend and I turned to the city while we lifted a one -piece flag,” Khariq said Wednesday.
“If the government is not afraid to suppress its own people, we should not be afraid to fight bad policies.”
