REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BALI -- Early childhood education is a branch of education that can help to prevent the spread of radicalism, Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said.

"Through early childhood education, they can learn about tolerance. It (the ideology) should be implanted in them from an early age," Parawansa stated here on Saturday.

"From an early age, they can develop an understanding of cultural diversity and pluralism, and through these efforts, tolerance and moderation can be ingrained in them," the minister affirmed.

Parawansa hopes that teachers of early childhood education can help to prevent radicalism.

She added that efforts to prevent radicalism should not be carried out in schools alone but in the community as well.

Earlier, an Islamic organization in Indonesia had urged the government to block threatening websites that have yet to be detected by a panel recently set up for the purpose.

"We can see several websites that are dangerous and have the potential to spread radicalism, such as the ideology of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), but they have yet to be blocked. They must be blocked immediately," Deputy General Chairman of the Executive Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) Asad Said Ali said here on Friday.

He made the request during a discussion on the "Effectiveness of Blocking Radical Websites in the Fight against Terrorism" in the campus of Bhayangkara Jaya Raya University in Jalan Dharmawangsa, South Jakarta.

The websites that the PBNU wants blocked because they carry negative content are Milaibrahim, Ansyarudaullah, ansaruttauhid, jihadologi, azzam blog, sautusallam, and Al-busro.

"They carry radical content and even give lessons on how to make bombs; this indicates that they are closely linked with the ISIS, but have been ignored," he pointed out.

Ali further noted that the PBNU supported and appreciated the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) and the Ministry of Informatics and Communication for blocking 19 websites that were believed to be spreading radicalism.

"I hail the blocking of the 19 websites. It was a good move. More firm actions must be taken, and with regard to protests by operators of 12 of the 19 websites, it is okay as remedial steps can be taken, such as in the case of Dakwatuna.com belonging to the Prosperous Justice Party," he stressed.

Moreover, Ali observed that several websites that supported the ISIS have addresses and clear operators. So the BNPT and the Ministry of Informatics and Communication must take firm actions against them.

"I believe that operators and content of a website are both criteria to block a website. If, for example, the content of a website belonging to the PBNU helps the ISIS, then PBNU must be reprimanded. However, if the ownership is affiliated to the ISIS, then the website must be blocked straightaway," he explained.

Ali also pointed out that the ideology of the ISIS was a threat to not only Indonesia but to the world at large.

He emphasized that the group's ideology was not Islamic because it propagated hatred against other human beings, even Muslims belonging to different sects.

In addition, the government has lifted restrictions from 12 of the 19 Islamic websites that were blocked recently for allegedly promoting radicalism.

After the Forum for Handling Websites carrying Negative Content (FPSIBN) held a meeting on terrorism, SARA (ethnicity, religious, racial and group), and hate issues here on Thursday, the deputy chairman of the forum, Agus Barnas, announced that the operation of the 12 websites will be normalized, but they will continue to be monitored.

"We are restoring only 12 of the 19 blocked websites because only their operators communicated with the forum, which showed their goodwill. This is besides a dialog that was held with them regarding the importance of maintaining the integrity of the Unitary State of Indonesia," he remarked.

The 12 websites that have been unblocked are hidayatullah.com, salam-online.com, aqlislamcenter.com, kiblat.net, gemaislam.com, panjimas.com, muslimdaily.net, voa-islam.com, dakwatuna.com, an-najah.net, eramuslim.com, and arrahmah.com.

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