REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Jakarta Metro Police said political observer and lecturer Rocky Gerung failed to meet the summon on Thursday (Jan 31) as he was still in Makassar, South Sulawesi. He was about to be questioned for calling 'Holy Book is fiction".
"His lawyer informed that Rocky Gerung will come tomorrow (Feb 1) after Friday prayers," spokesperson of Jakarta Metro Police, Argo Yuwono said on Thursday (Jan 31).
Rocky could not fulfill the summon on the report made by Cyber Indonesia Secretary General, Jack Boyd Lapian. According to his attorney, Haris Azhar, Rocky would come to Jakarta Metro Police headquarters after finishing his business outside the city.
"(He will come) tomorrow afternoon," Haris said in Jakarta on Thursday (Jan 31).
Beside Lapian, Chairman of Cyber Indonesia, Permadi Arya, also filed a police report against Rocky on Wednesday, April 11, 2018. Rocky allegedly insult the religion when speaking at Indonesia Lawyer's Club TV talk show on Tuesday, April 10 2018.
In the discussion, Rocky said 'Holy Book is fiction'. He explained that fiction is a noun, but the term was considered bad as it was conveyed in a political forum.
According to him, fiction actually is very good. Fiction is an energy to activate imagination, he explained.
"And we live in a fictional world, more in fiction than in the realm of reality. The antonym of fiction is reality, not fact. So if you say it's fiction, then the word becomes pejorative, that means we want our children no longer to read fiction, because for the past two months the term 'fiction' has become a bad word," said Rocky in the show.
"Is the Holy Book fictional or not? Who dares to answer? If I use the definition that fiction activates imagination, the Holy Book is fiction," he said confidently.
To explain further, Rocky then tried to make another comparison. He said that Babad Tanah Jawi is an example of fiction. Babad Tanah Jawi is a compilation of manuscripts written in Javanese language about the history of the land of Java.
"Fiction has a role to activate imagination, to lead us to think more imaginatively. Now, it (fiction) is killed, by politician," he said.