University of Indonesia’s Eva said that intent is a crucial element in determining whether an act constitutes treason.
“The element of intent in treason is the intention to render the president unable to perform their duties. This element must be proven,” she said.
One case involving treason against a president occurred in 2019, when Hermawan Susanto threatened to behead then-president Joko Widodo during a demonstration outside the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) office in Jakarta.
In March 2020, the Central Jakarta District Court found Hermawan guilty of treason and sentenced him to 10 months and five days in prison. He was released immediately, having already served that period in detention.
Indonesia has also seen several attempts to assassinate its presidents. One was the Cikini incident on Nov 30, 1957, when assailants threw grenades at then-president Sukarno in Jakarta. Sukarno survived, but 10 people were killed.
On Mar 9, 1960, Air Force pilot Daniel Maukar fired on the presidential palace in Jakarta from a MiG-17 fighter jet. Sukarno survived the attack.
Sukarno was targeted again on May 14, 1962, when a man named Bachrum opened fire as the president attended Eid al-Adha prayers at the presidential palace complex. The shots missed Sukarno but wounded several people, including parliamentary speaker Zainul Arifin.
All three incidents were cited as examples of treason by criminal law expert Andi Hamzah during a Constitutional Court hearing in August 2017.