Examining Religious and Justice System in Indonesia to Prevent Cyberbullying
Keywords:
cyberbullying, religious, justice system, ideologyAbstract
Researchers have given a lot of attention to the relationship between religion and crime, finding that religion tends to have a deterring influence on crime-related attitudes and behaviors. This paper first examined the relationship between religiosity and cyberbullying, then ascertained how justice system could prevent cyberbullying behavior, through social and educational initiatives. The data was collected through normative juridical methods to provide a constructive understanding of the perspective of criminal law related to cyberbullying. It was revealed that the constitutional law took cognizance of cyberbullying, more than the religious laws, to curb cyberbullying in Indonesia on the pretext that cybercrimes took place in the cyberspace and not in real public. The findings also revealed an absence of the religious laws, and the increase in the cyber-sectarian conflict in Indonesia, where social media and other websites are indulged in slander and hoax with a view to insult Islamic leaders and their groups based on their religious affiliations, faith or ethnicity. Like the West and other developed nations, Indonesia has also thus witnessed cyber bullying and cybercrime incidents targeting individuals belonging to a particular religion, faith or ideology. The justice institutions and Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kementerian Agama) made several attempts to prevent this but the absence of robust religious laws were felt. The study concluded with recommending to take fresh insight into cyberbullying and its combating legal measures in the Indonesian religious justice system, appropriately aided by social and community initiatives.