REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Following the recent blocking of 19 websites over radicalism issue, the government has appealed to news websites in the country to register with the Indonesian domain to ease monitoring.
"We appeal to news websites in Indonesia to use .co.id extension and not .com so that they will be registered with the Indonesian domain and their identification will become easier. Many have been using .com instead of .co.id," Minister of Informatics and Communication Rudiantara said when commenting on the issue at the State Palace here on Thursday (2/4).
He noted that the government will help facilitate the registration of their .co.id extension in "Pandi" to make them easily recognizable.
At the request of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), the Ministry of Informatics and Communications (Kemenkominfo) recently blocked 19 websites for allegedly promoting radicalism.
According to the minister, the websites have been blocked at the request of the BNPT. His office has now signed an agreement setting up a panel of community figures, including the representatives of the Indonesia Council of Ulemas and the executive board of the Nahdlatul Ulama organization, to gather inputs and views to make the process of blocking websites better and more transparent.
The panel members include chairman of the Press Council Bagir Manan, NU figure Salahudin Wahid (Gus Solah), and Muhammadiyah general chairman Din Syamsuddin.
Regarding stories that are considered radical, Minister Rudiantara said it was the Press Council's affairs.
Online media editors whose websites have been blocked by Kemenkominfo have complained to Commission I on the Information Affairs of the House of Representatives.
"Some 22 websites have been blocked at the request of the BNPT. They were blocked without any mediation," Aendra, the editor of Voaislam.com, said at the room of Commission I here on Wednesday.
He questioned Kemenkominfo's move that closed the websites without issuing any warning.
According to Aendra, on March 30, 2015, online media houses received a letter from Kemenkominfo, which, in essence, notified them about the blockading of the websites based on a recommendation from the BNPT.
"In the letter, they addressed us as websites entertaining radicalism. This should have been explained to us before blocking our online sites," he stated.
The Indonesian police claim the 19 websites that have been blocked did carry radical content.
"The websites were dangerous; their content was provocative. So they had to be blocked," spokesman for the National Police (Polri) Brig. Gen. Anton Charliyan said at the Police Headquarters here on Wednesday.
He admitted that the Polri advised the BNPT to have the websites blocked. The BNPT then passed on the suggestion to the Communication and Informatics Ministry that blocked the sites.
The 19 Islamic websites blocked are arrahmah.com, voa- islam.com, ghur4ba.blogspot.com, panjimas.com, thoriquna.com, dakwatuna.com, kafilahmujahid.com, an-najah.net, muslimdaily.net, hidayatullah.com, salam-online.com, aqlislamiccenter.com, kiblat.net, dakwahmedia.com, muqawamah.com, lasdipo.com, gemaislam.com, eramuslim.com, and daulahislam.com.
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