From Silencing to Resistance: A Legal Analysis of the Comprehensive Implementation and Integrated Design of Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) in Indonesia

Abstract

In various regions of Indonesia, SLAPPs have often befallen environmental activists, investigative journalists, human rights defenders, and indigenous peoples who are fighting for their customary land. Lawsuits filed by parties with economic or political power are often not based on strong legal substance, but rather are intended to tire, suppress, and intimidate public interest defenders. The approach used in this study is a type of normative legal research, namely based on analysis of library materials as data sources and legal principles and statutory regulations related to the problems being studied. The substance of the discussion includes the importance of the early dismissal mechanism as the main strategy in dealing with strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) cases, both in the criminal and civil realms. As well as the restorative justice approach in handling environmental cases, especially in the context of anti-SLAPP, by emphasizing that this mechanism can be an alternative to resolving cases that is more humane and does not burden environmental activists who are often positioned as suspects/defendants/convicts. This study is important to analyze the reality of the implementation of anti-SLAPP regulations legally, and to formulate recommendations for the formation of effective and contextual legal policies for law enforcement and protection of environmental activists in Indonesia.