Indonesian comedian Ben Dhanio performs at a stand-up comedy show. - BEN DHANIO via ST/ANN
JAKARTA: One might expect the recent police report filed against popular Indonesian comedian Pandji Pragiwaksono for his Netflix special Mens Rea to make other Indonesian comedians think twice about tackling sensitive topics in their routines.
Not so, three comedians told The Straits Times, saying they were committed to their craft and had received positive feedback about their work.
Ariben Aditya Dhanio, better known as Ben Dhanio, who opened for Pandji in the comedy special, said he was initially a little worried because he knew that clips from Mens Rea would be posted on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
“But after watching my clips (on those sites) and reading the comments, the majority are positive,” said Ben, 33. “To me, that means that the public is ready to accept these kind of jokes.”
Mens Rea is the first Indonesian comedy special on Netflix, and has consistently appeared on the streaming site’s list of Top 10 Shows in Indonesia since it first aired on Dec 27, 2025.
On Jan 7, an individual named Rizki Abdul Rahman Wahid claiming to represent the youth wings of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s two largest Islamic organisations, reported Pandji to the Jakarta police.
He argued that the comedian’s jokes in the special about NU and Muhammadiyah receiving mining concessions from the government violated the criminal code’s provisions against public incitement and blasphemy, which carry a combined maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment.
In his routine, Pandji, 46, implied that NU and Muhammadiyah had been given the concessions as part of a quid pro quo in exchange for the organisations’ support of the government. The comedian, who is Muslim, also made several jokes about how voters often put too much stock in political candidates’ perceived piety.
“Some people vote for candidates based on their religious practices. They say, ‘I want to vote for someone because he never misses a prayer’, as if never missing a prayer means that you’re a good person,” he said. “Never missing a prayer doesn’t mean you’re good, it just means you’re consistent.”
Pandji has made few comments on the matter, other than to thank those who have supported him in a video on his Instagram account.
The Jakarta police have said they will process the police report despite the criminal complaint being denounced as spurious by several legal experts, as well as NU and Muhammadiyah themselves.
Jakarta-based think-tank the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, for example, said in a press statement on Jan 9 that “criticism in the form of satire or other artistic forms is protected under the law and the country’s Constitution as part of freedom of expression”.
Up-and-coming comedian Rizky Wahyu Saputra, 27, known by his stage name Rizky Ambon, is also not unduly concerned by the police report against Mens Rea, attributing it to the complainant not being accustomed to the biting nature of stand-up comedy.
He said audiences in Indonesia have increased in both number and sophistication since he started doing stand-up in 2016. “Nowadays, people who come to comedy shows are already prepared (for sensitive material). They even seek it out specifically,” Rizky told ST. “It’s just a matter of time until the wider public becomes used to it too.”
Stand-up comedy has gained traction in Indonesia in recent years, with Kompas TV, one of the country’s largest broadcast stations, airing a stand-up comedy competition called Stand-Up Comedy Indonesia, better known by its acronym SUCI, since 2011.
Other forms of comedy have also mushroomed with increased internet access and the popularity of short video formats. Comedians on these platforms have also not been shy in tackling sensitive topics, if obliquely. For example, criticism of the government may be couched as directed at the government of Wakanda, a fictional African country from the Marvel movie Black Panther, or Konoha (a fictional Japanese town from the Japanese anime Naruto) instead of Indonesia.
Online comedians use such satire to keep clear of potential reprisal.
Sketch comedy group Hecticholic, which has amassed a combined total of over 1.5 million followers on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, uses the medium to draw attention to socio-political issues such as youth unemployment, corruption and wealth inequality. Group founder Isol, who asked to be referred to by his stage name, describes its videos as “edge-of-the-cliff comedy”.
One of Hecticholic’s videos, for example, depicts an interview with an official from “Wakanda” who is so incompetent that her promises always end in the opposite result. The interviewer realises this and starts complaining about things that he actually wants, like the minimum wage being too high, prompting her to pledge to lower it.
“This kind of comedy is more memorable and catchy, and people understand the message better,” Isol told ST. “Because actually most people already realise what the issues are without us having to spell them out.”
Isol, who declined to disclose his age, said that while it was natural for comedians like him to feel worried following the police report against Pandji, Hecticholic will remain vocal and continue with its “comedy of discontent”.
“We cannot let the backlash (against Pandji) scare us into silence,” he said. “Good people will always have other good people to protect them.”
Satya Pramesi, 29, takes a different approach with his news satire account Indonesia Last Week, or ILW.
A former broadcast news anchor, Satya was inspired by American news satire shows such as Last Week Tonight and The Daily Show. Like those shows, he takes a ripped-from-the-headlines approach, taking on topics ranging from Indonesian parliamentary proceedings to the conflict in Gaza.
“It’s pretty much what I, as an idealistic journalist back in the day, wanted to do, except injected with some comedy to make it more interesting,” he told ST.
While groups like Hecticholic seek plausible deniability by talking around sensitive subjects, Satya finds security in tackling issues head-on, reasoning that sticking close to the facts gives him legal cover.
He said that while cases such as Pandji’s do give him pause, he remains committed to producing ILW. “I won’t stop,” he said.
As for Ben, he emphasised that “the first threshold is always to be funny” when asked whether concerns about causing offence influenced how he crafted his material.
The comedian, who is of Chinese descent, made several jokes in the Netflix special on stereotypes about Chinese Indonesians, who are often seen as rich business owners or entrepreneurs. “A Chinese guy doing stand-up comedy? It’s a mistake, dude,” he said. “It goes against our nature. Chinese people should buy tickets, sit in the diamond section.”
Ben said comedians are often advised not to joke about SARA – the Indonesian acronym for ethnicity, religion, race and class – if they are performing on TV or in public places to a more mainstream audience.
But many comics have ignored this advice, often poking fun at their religious or ethnic backgrounds even on mainstream outlets like Metro TV and Kompas TV, without any major backlash.
“In the end, funny is funny,” he said. - The Straits Times/ANN
