Jakarta – House of Representatives (DPR) acting Speaker Fadli Zon responded to the statement made by the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN) chief Djoko Setiadi related the need for BSSN to have the authority to arrest and prosecute.
Fadli suggested that BSSN's authority must immediately be limited to prevent it from acting beyond its authority.
"The BSSN or the President needs to be reminded that we did not design the BSSN to become a censorship agency similar that in China," said Fadli in a written statement on Monday, January 8.
As it is globally known, China's Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) serves a function to regulate and censor China's internet and become the central supervisory agency for the country.
Fadli Zon explained that BSSN's authority includes drafting regulations and technical strategies which would make the agency responsible whenever the country faces a cyber-threat or cyberspace attacks.
Under Presidential Decree No. 53/2017 on the cyber and encryption agency, Fadli Zon argued that the agency's authority is still unclear since it does not provide a detailed explanation regarding its taxonomy. Fadli views that the vagueness is prone to misinterpretation.
According to Fadli, the authority to arrest and execute, should it be given to the agency, could potentially overlap with other agencies that also handle cyber-security cases such as the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), and the Communications and Information Ministry.
– Dewi Nurita