Ongen's Tweets Create Furor

On Wednesday two weeks ago, Yulianus Paonganan was dragged out of his home immediately detained at the crime investigation division (Bareskrim) at the National Police headquarters. His crime: posting an indecent photo on his Twitter account @ypaonganan.

Who is Yulianus Paonganan? Better known as Ongen by his family and friends, he had posted a cheeky message on Facebook, the ostensible reason for his run-in with the police. Ongen is not a sate vendor (who was arrested for cyberbullying the President). Nor does he own bogus accounts that many people create to insult others. He is a professor of marine science at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). It is hard to imagine Ongen with such a background uploading a lewd picture on Twitter. Or perhaps words such as indecent or lewd need to be redefined.

December 29, 2015