Legal Literacy- This article discusses how criticism of the government can lead to the threat of criminal charges.

Definition of Criticism

Criticism is an idea or input that comes from the voice of the community to make a change either to the government or to non-government (private parties) where the criticism is also aimed at making various changes to achieve social justice development in accordance with the concept of development itself, namely the existence of equity.

In the Big Indonesian Dictionary criticism is also referred to as reproach or response that is sometimes accompanied by descriptions and considerations of the good and bad of a work, opinion and others. Then criticism itself is the process of analyzing and evaluating something with the aim of increasing understanding, expanding appreciation or helping to improve work. The word criticism comes from the Greek word kritikos which means can be discussed. Furthermore, the word kritikos is absorbed by the word krenein which means separating, observing, weighing and comparing. By definition, criticism is a normal thing that is done by anyone, whether from the community, people's representatives, observers, academics, students, students and others related.

In its development, this criticism which was previously open and free is no longer the case today, due to threats that lead to criminalization, which in turn threatens the freedom of the community to gather to express opinions or criticisms, both directly and indirectly.

Moreover, government criticism conveyed by the community, of course, this will create its own concerns for the community. What used to be that people could convey various things, whether it was input, ideas or even criticism, has become something whose use is limited.

In this case, the community is as if no longer free with all the social control rights (supervision) attached to it because it can be threatened with criminal charges. Finally, the government in carrying out its government seems as if what it does is all right, even when it does nothing in its government, it becomes right. Because when there is something that is considered to be done by the government and the community provides input through criticism, it can be reported to the police, this can reduce the interest and voice of the community to be able to continue to have a role in government.