The National Parliament DPR/MPR RI Building in Jakarta was up for sale on e-commerce platforms, following the protests that were staged in many cities in Indonesia following the 'Omnibus Law on Job Creation' bill.
The 80,000m2 parliament complex that was constructed in 1965 by the order of Soekarno, the first President of Indonesia, was sold at prices ranging from Rp 500 to Rp 123,000 (less than $10).
The many listings found on e-commerce platforms detailed similar descriptions, including saying that the building is for sale, including the members in it.
"THE BUILDING IS STILL 80% GOOD, BUT THE CONTENTS ARE ROTTEN, wrote one of the harshest found on Shopee.
This action was made as a form of public annoyance over the ratification of the Job Creation Law at the Plenary Meeting in the parliament on October 5th.
One Shopee user who put the complex for sale, confirmed that the action was based on the performance of the people's representatives which was considered to only add to the burden to the people. The user said that the bill is only to benefit big businesses and corporations, by putting aside workers' rights.
For its part, Shopee has put down the ad.
Head of Public Policy and Government Relations for Shopee Indonesia Radityo Triatmojo said that the company has an internal team that monitors the activities of the products sold at the platform.
The goal is that all products sold are in accordance with social regulations and norms.
"For this reason, we have confirmed all related products and stores selling the DPR Building on the Shopee application that do not comply with the standard provisions for product sales in our application," wrote Radityo in a written statement.
"If there is a sale of products that are deemed to have the potential to harm users, users can also contribute to reporting unsettling sellers and products to Shopee through our application."
It was later found that similar ads were found on Bukalapak and Tokopedia, other e-commerce platforms popular in Indonesia.
After the ads were taken down from all the platforms, the parliament raised its voice concerning the action.
The Secretary General of the DPR RI, Indra Iskandar, considered it as an inappropriate joke.
During a press conference broadcast through the parliament's Instagram account, he said that:
However, Indra said that he won't report the case to the police, considering that the complex belongs to the Ministry of Finance, so it is they who are more appropriate to report it to the police.
Instead, he would really appreciate if the authorities can find out who made the joke, and "take firm action," said Indra.
"But not (reporting)," he said.
"If someone disseminates such information (sells the DPR/MPR building), the Ministry of Finance and the police will please follow up," he continued.
The Secretary General hopes that citizens will be wiser and more mature when dealing with things with the internet.
During the ad appeared on online e-commerce platforms, the parliament's website at dpr.go.id was also hacked by hackers.
