Kennial Caroline Laia, Jakarta – A proposal by the Indonesian government to ban the use of mobile phones by children has met with both support and criticism, with proponents claiming it can keep minors away from viewing porn, and detractors denouncing it as pointless and counterproductive.

The move was announced by Yohana Yembise, the minister for women's empowerment and child protection, on Wednesday.

"We are currently drafting a set of rules [to forbid children using cell phones]," the minister was quoted as saying by Antara. "I think kids, especially the ones still in elementary schools, do not need cell phones."

The minister, who was speaking at public seminar at Jakarta State University, said mobile phones could lead children to harmful websites, including those containing pornography. They also distract children from their studies and impair their social skills, she said. She did not cite any studies to back up her claims.

Yohana also proposed extending a partial ban to teenagers. "Even when they are already in junior and senior high school, only certain mobile phones should be allowed for them," she said.

She did not outline any practical details about how the ban would be enforced or whether it would just be applied in school or beyond.

Control the children

The plan seems to have found a favorable reception among a portion of Indonesian parents concerned about cyberbullying and easy access to "harmful" material.

The use of mobile phones has grown exponentially in Indonesia over the past two decades, and police have occasionally been required to investigate incidents of online bullying and abuse.

Several legislators on Thursday also spoke up in approval at the plan. "Such a regulation would make it easier for parents to control their children," said Endang Srikarti Handayani. "Children can also focus and concentrate on learning at school."

The Golkar Party politician, who serves on the House of Representatives' oversight commission for social affairs, is perhaps best known for asking, during a public hearing on livestock technology, whether bovine artificial insemination could be used to make a woman pregnant.

Another legislator, Saleh Partaonan Daulay of the Islamic-based National Mandate Party (PAN), said the proposed ban "is worth the shot". "We need to protect children from the negative impacts of developments in information technology," he told the Republika newspaper.

He added another solution was to permit children, particularly those aged under 16 years, to only use feature phones. "For children of this age, parents should only give cell phones with limited features, which is essentially all they really need," Saleh said.

However, he cautioned that the ban would only work as long as the government was committed and allocated enough resources to enforce it.

Unfair regulation

Children's rights activists, on the other hand, have decried the minister's proposed ban, saying it is not the right solution for the problems arising from growing access to technology.

"This draft regulation sounds quite unfair," Seto Mulyadi, the chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection, or Komnas Anak, told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.

"We can't just blame gadgets for the problems that children are facing today. How the gadgets are used depends on the user. There are kids who use their gadgets wisely, and some who use it for indecent purposes. So the minister should reconsider her arguments when proposing such a regulation."

Seto argued that the government must instead focus on educating children and parents about using technology wisely and positively, as well as warning them about the dangers of online predators and cyberbullying.

"Parents play a very crucial role. So instead of banning the use of cell phones, the minister should instead host a seminar or discussion with parents, all the way to down to the grass-roots level," he said.

Child porn

Yohana's remarks came in the wake of a police investigation into a viral video depicting a boy and a girl, believed to be no older than 10 years, engage in sexual acts. Adults can be heard talking in the background of the video, according to authorities.

Child protection activists have described the video as "massively disturbing," after it was uploaded to the Internet last week from a location in eastern Java, representatives from two child protection agencies said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The Indonesian Commission for Child Protection, or KPAI, has urged the police to investigate the video and charge those suspected of creating and uploading it under the 2008 Anti-Pornography Law and the 2014 Child Protection Law.

"This phenomenon has massively disturbed the public," said Maria Advianti, the deputy chairwoman of the KPAI. "Kids have been exploited into becoming subjects in pornography." The police have vowed to look into the matter.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/mixed-signals-plan-block-kids-mobile-phone-use/