REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The United Development Party (PPP) continues its stand against the government's unilateral action against Islamic websites, citing it betrays reform agenda, violates human rights, and revives the autocratic New Order regime.

"The government's action of blocking Islamic websites all of a sudden violates the principles of human rights and constitution. It also reflects a betrayal of reform agenda. We are strongly opposed to it," member of the PPP faction in the House of Representatives Reni Marlinawati said in a press statement released on Thursday (2/4).

She was responding to the Informatics and Communication Ministry's unilateral step blocking 19 Islamic websites at the request of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) that cited the websites had been spreading radicalism.

Seven of the Islamic websites have lodged a protest against the step on the grounds that there had been no prior notification or clarification from the government.

"The government's step reminds us of the New Order regime's ways of censoring views against the government," she pointed out.

Therefore, the PPP faction has urged the government to unblock the Islamic websites, she noted.

The step to block the Islamic websites without holding dialogs with their owners had been an autocratic and tendentious act, she remarked.

She considers the allegation that the Islamic websites had been spreading radicalism as a premature and unilateral assessment since there has been no clarification or investigation into it.

"How does one measure radical Islam? Any view that arises in the community should not be considered a problem as long as it is not against the Constitution," she explained.

Earlier, on Monday, Vice-President Jusuf Kalla revealed he had ordered Minister of Informatics and Communication Rudiantara to block Islamic websites spreading radicalism.

"I had asked Rudiantara to conduct a thorough study and block websites that are found spreading propaganda," he stated in his office.

He added that Islamic websites carrying contents promoting radicalism had been blocked as requested by a security institution.

However, he stressed that the government will not block all Islamic websites but only those carrying contents spreading radicalism.

The leaders and newsmen of aglislamiccenter.com, hidayatullah.com, kiblat.net, salam-online.com, panjimas.com, arrahmah.com, and gemaislam.com visited the ministry's office on Tuesday to meet Danrivanto Budhijanto, the Expert Staff for Legal and Strategic Regulation Affairs.

Mahladi, the chief editor of Hidayatullah, who acted as the speaker for the delegation, stated that their websites were blocked without informing them about their offence.

"It just happened. We did not know what was wrong. We were not informed before," he said.

He noted that no regulation regarding negative content had been violated.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika