JAKARTA: Indonesia is cracking down on a viral pirate flag that is spreading as a symbol of political protest ahead of independence day.<\/p>\n
The Jolly Roger skull and bones with a straw hat \u2013 from Japanese anime series \u201cOne Piece\u201d \u2013 has been fluttering from a rising number of trucks, cars and homes.<\/p>\n
Officials warn the \u201cprovocation\u201d \u2013 seen by many as a protest against President Prabowo Subianto\u2019s policies \u2013 should not fly alongside the country\u2019s red-and-white flag.<\/p>\n
The pirate banner was taken up by disgruntled truck drivers earlier this summer, but has recently snowballed into an online and real-life movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI personally raised the One Piece flag because the red and white flag is too sacred to be raised in this corrupt country,\u201d Khariq Anhar, a 24-year-old university student in Sumatra\u2019s Riau province, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe freedom of speech in Indonesia exists, but it is very limited. Voicing your opinion is getting more dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Government officials say the flag\u2019s use is an attempt to divide the nation.<\/p>\n
They warn it may be banned from flying next to Indonesia\u2019s colors, or being raised on August 17 \u2013 the 80th independence anniversary after Japan\u2019s surrender at the end of World War II.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is imperative we refrain from creating provocation with symbols that are not relevant to this country\u2019s struggle,\u201d chief security minister Budi Gunawan said in a statement last week.<\/p>\n
Ministers have cited a law that prohibits flying a symbol higher than the national flag as the basis for any punishment.<\/p>\n
Under that law, intent to desecrate, insult or degrade the flag carries a maximum prison sentence of five years or a fine of nearly $31,000.<\/p>\n
State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi on Tuesday said Prabowo had no issue with the \u201cexpression of creativity,\u201d but the two flags \u201cshould not be placed side by side in a way that invites comparison,\u201d local media reported.<\/p>\n
A presidency spokesman did not respond to an AFP question about its position on the pirate flag, which was put two days earlier.<\/p>\n
Experts say unhappy Indonesians are using the flag as a way to express anti-government feeling indirectly, with some of Prabowo\u2019s economic and defense policies causing concern about democratic backsliding.<\/p>\n
\u201cSymbols like the pirate flag let people channel frustration without spelling it out,\u201d said Dedi Dinarto, lead Indonesia analyst at advisory firm Global Counsel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt reflects a public sentiment that parts of the country have been \u2018hijacked\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others, like food seller Andri Saputra, who has flown the pirate ensign below an Indonesian flag at his home for a week, say they want to be able to decide what symbols they display.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be free to express my opinion and express myself,\u201d the 38-year-old said in Boyolali regency in Central Java.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just a cartoon flag from Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Online culture has been a popular channel for Indonesian dissatisfaction against perceived government corruption and nepotism.<\/p>\n
Japanese anime is popular in Indonesia, and in the best-selling \u2018One Piece\u2019 manga series created in 1997, the flag represents opposition to an authoritarian world government.<\/p>\n
In February, protests known as \u2018Dark Indonesia\u2019 began against Prabowo\u2019s widespread budget cuts, sparked by a logo posted on social media showing a black Indonesian mythical Garuda bird alongside the words \u2018Emergency Warning\u2019.<\/p>\n
Other rallies in 2016 and 2019 were also sparked online, and Dedi says the government may be worried that \u201cthis follows the same digital playbook.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is also a generational divide, with older locals viewing the Indonesian flag as hard-won after centuries of colonial rule, while younger Indonesians see the new movement as an expression of disappointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just want Indonesia to get better, but… they can only express it through the \u2018One Piece\u2019 flag,\u201d said Ismail Fahmi, founder of Indonesian social media monitor Drone Emprit.<\/p>\n
Police in Banten Province neighboring capital Jakarta and West Java Province, Indonesia\u2019s most populous, have threatened action if the flag is flown next to the nation\u2019s colors.<\/p>\n
One printing business owner in Central Java said on condition of anonymity that his facility was raided by plain-clothes police on Wednesday evening to halt its production of the pirate emblem.<\/p>\n
Rights groups have called the response excessive and say Indonesians are allowed to wave the flag by law.<\/p>\n
\u201cRaising the \u2018One Piece\u2019 flag as a critic is a part of the freedom of speech and it is guaranteed by the constitution,\u201d said Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid.<\/p>\n
Despite the government\u2019s threats, some young Indonesians are still willing to risk walking the plank of protest.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast night my friend and I went around the town while raising a One Piece flag,\u201d said Khariq on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the government has no fear of repressing its own people, we shouldn\u2019t be scared to fight bad policies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JAKARTA: Indonesia is cracking down on a viral pirate flag that is spreading as a symbol of political protest ahead of independence day. The Jolly Roger skull and bones with a straw hat \u2013 from Japanese anime series \u201cOne Piece\u201d \u2013 has been fluttering from a rising number of trucks, cars and homes. Officials warn …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":85075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85076,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85074\/revisions\/85076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}