The members of the Ed Residivis, or Ed Edy and Residivis, are being tried for insulting the police.

In a charity concert at Denpasar, Bali, in July 2006, held to raise funds for the victims of the Yogyakarta earthquake, the group, whose name is either Ed Residivis, or Ed Edy and Residivis, not sure which, performed a song about the police force entitled “Anjing”, or “dog”. In the song are the words:

preman ternyata polisi, anjing!

or something like “it turns out the thugs are policemen, those dogs!”

After the concert policemen arrested the members of the band and they were held overnight in a cell, and then charged.

Two members of the five-man group, Sofian Hadi alias Ed Edy, and Teguh Setiabudi alias Igo, are currently on trial in a Denpasar court for insulting the police and they face punishment of up to 18 months prison.

Ed Edy told the courtroom:

We don’t understand why we are here. We were just singing to raise money for the victims of the Yogyakarta earthquake, and now we are being tried.

Edy and Igo’s defence team claim that the police got the lyrics wrong, that actually the relevant line is:

Anjing! Kukira preman. Anjing! Ternyata polisi

or “Dog! I thought he was a thug/criminal. Dog! Turns out he was a policeman.”

The trial is ongoing.