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It's Officially Illegal to Be an Online Troll In Indonesia

And that means students, criminologists, bloggers, and pretty much anyone who speaks out of turn online is at risk.

If you're looking for liberty in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is usually your best bet.

The governments of Malaysia, Cambodia, and Singapore have rarely transferred power peacefully. Thailand is still recovering from its second military coup in eight years, and the last two presidents of the Philippines both jailed their predecessors. Indonesia stands alone as a role model in the volatile region, with the world's 16th largest economy and markedly liberal media laws.

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Unless you post something unkind on the internet.

Under the  2008 Law on Information and Electronic Transactions, Indonesian citizens can serve jail time for insulting people online. And while the legislation has the potential to stave off cyber bullies, authorities have been using it lately to target anyone who poses a challenge to the status quo.

Take Florence Sihombing, a 26-year-old law student, who recently spent the night in jail for calling the residents of Central Java, "poor, stupid and uncultured." Or an Indonesian blogger who, several months ago, was sentenced to one year of probation for tweeting about a banking scandal. Or Alexander Aan, an atheist who spent two years in prison for questioning God's existence on Facebook.

In the past month alone, The New York Times reports, there have been at least four investigations targeting regular Indonesians for speaking (or posting) their minds.

One day before Sihombing was arrested, according to the Times, an Indonesian criminologist was forced to retract his claims, made during a television interview, that the local police department was corrupt. Recently, an Indonesian mayor reported a citizen to the police for tweeting rude remarks about his sexual orientation. And earlier this month the Islamic Defenders Front, a hardline group, called for the execution of a group of Indonesian university students for organizing a seminar called, "God is Rotten: Reconstruction of Fundamentalism to Create a Cosmopolitan Islam."

Indonesia has the potential—and the cash—to set the stage for major changes in Southeast Asia. The Indonesian government could be leading the way for liberal democracies and championing human rights. Unfortunately, right now it looks like they're far too busy intimidating bloggers and investigating tweets to make much of a difference in the region.