Dessy Sagita, Jakarta – Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring on Wednesday stressed that he would not back down from his decision to block Internet access to pornographic sites despite public criticism and doubts.
"Some have criticized the plan, but Muslim leaders, Christian priests – they all support this plan," he said during a discussion hosted by the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club.
Tifatul, from the conservative Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), had previously said the move was driven by a request from the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) to restrict access to pornography on the Internet.
His decision, he said, was in keeping with the controversial 2008 Anti-Pornography Law. One of its articles states "that the state should protect its citizens from the dangers of pornography."
Tifatul said that he was aware that blocking all Web sites with pornographic content would be nearly impossible. However, he said, with an aggressive campaign and random checks, the government expected that children would have very limited access to such sites.
"We've started by holding meetings with Internet service providers because they're the ones with the power to grant access to the Internet across Indonesia," he said.
Tifatul rejected charges that blocking pornographic Web sites was tantamount to violating freedom of speech or expression. "People can say what they want as long as it doesn't go against the rules, but porn is a totally different thing," he said.
"The state is obliged to protect its citizens, especially children. I'm simply implementing the Constitution," Tifatul said.
He added that he would not have to ban pornographic sites if Indonesians, especially children, would stop accessing them.
"Personally, I believe that it would be much better if people stopped watching porn on their own initiative, not because they're forced to, but the situation is already out of hand," he said.
Tifatul added that a recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology found that of 4,500 high school students, 97 percent had accessed pornography. "Given the margin of error, 100 percent of our teenagers may have accessed porn," he said.
Tifatul also voiced his disappointment over the public's criticism of the multimedia content bill, which he said would help stem the spread of pornography in Indonesia.
"The media acts as though I want to limit freedom of the press with this bill, but in fact the bill doesn't say anything about the press," he said.
Tifatul added that if the multimedia content bill was passed, a content supervisory body would be set up to determine whether any given content was pornographic or offensive. "This is a very democratic bill, so I can't understand why the people are so against it," he said.