Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta – The government should allow people to use their own judgment in avoiding Web sites deemed offensive, rather than impose curbs that threaten free speech, media experts say.
The Communications and Information Technology Ministry claimed earlier this year that it had blocked access to 90 percent of pornographic sites for Indonesian Web users. It also said it was beefing up efforts to block other "undesirable content," including gambling, blasphemy and violence.
But Donny BU, a senior researcher at ICT Watch, which campaigns for the safe use of the Internet, said shielding users would leave them in the dark about online threats.
As a result, he added, it would put teachers, parents and other adults responsible for supervising children's online usage "off their guard". "And it obstructs one's freedom of expression and access to information," Donny told the Jakarta Globe.
Nunung Prajarto, a professor of mass communications at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, agreed that excessive control of new media could threaten people's right to communication and freedom of expression. "The kind of controls that used to be imposed on traditional media during [former President Suharto's] New Order era might reappear," he said.
Nunung blamed the mishandling of new media controls on overlapping jurisdictions, including by media outlets themselves, which he said could result in "trial by the press" is certain cases.
"Therefore, the right measures to take on new media must refer to existing laws and regulations," he said. "Legal action should be applied accordingly if any of the regulations are abused, but not because of prejudice or pressure from certain groups."
Regarding Internet pornography, he said any ban should refer strictly to the definition of pornography in existing regulations instead of an interpretation by civil society or government groups.
Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring said at the launch of a campaign for "healthy and safe Internet use" that his ministry's anti-porn stance had strong legal basis in the 1999 Telecommunications Law, the 2008 Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) Law and the 2008 Anti-Pornography Law.
The national campaign was initiated by the Communications Ministry with the backing of several other ministries and religious groups. However, Nunung said getting Internet users to exercise their own judgement was more important than strengthening the government's controls.
"For children, the responsibility lies with the family or parents," he said. "It's up to them to show what kind of Internet content is good or bad for kids."
Donny said the government should do more to empower users of the Internet and new media and help consumers develop their own positive content. "Instead of wasting resources on Internet filtering, it would be more useful to develop positive local content to crowd out the negative content," he said.
The drive for wholesome Internet use, he added, could help parents and teachers guide the younger generation toward accessing positive content. "Once children get accustomed to accessing useful information on the Internet, they won't waste time on accessing useless sites," he said.
As of September last year there were an estimated 30 million Internet users in Indonesia, according to Internet World Stats, out of a population of 240 million. This means the country's Internet penetration rate is about 12 percent.
Nunung said the digital divide muted the benefits of new media, since it could be accessed by only a small portion of the country's population.
"The government has to fairly and specifically provide access to new media while elaborating on its use to improve the people's lives by improving respect and protection of human rights," he said. "We don't want its presence tainted by restrictions on freedom of expression."