Last week, the IT Ministry blocked 11 websites for spreading religious and racial hatred. All of the blocked websites were targeted at Muslim audiences and includes such domains as voa-islam.com and islampos.com.
While the vast majority of the 800,000 websites blocked by the Indonesian government have been banned due to their pornographic content, the government has made a push to block more and more websites regulators judged to contain either fake news or SARA content (an abbreviation for attacks on race, religion and ethnicity), and these 11 websites were just the latest on the chopping block, joining the likes of FPI leader Habib Rizieq’s personal website.
However, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) criticized the government’s decision to block the sites, saying it could trigger a reaction from Muslims because it was a sensitive issue.
“This step could have many pros and cons, although it is meant to eliminate radicalism and terrorism,” MUI deputy chair Zainut Tauhid Saadi said in a statement released today and picked up by Kompas.
Zainut said part of the program was that the IT ministry did not give clear explanations regarding the definition of radical content. He said unilaterally blocking websites was a step backward for the development of democracy in Indonesia and that there should be a legal process in place to debate the merits of blocking individual sites
“It should not be just a mere top-down approach. This is in clear violation of human rights and the guarantee of freedom of opinion and expression that are clearly protected by the constitution,” Zainut said.
Hmm, we wonder why the MUI has never similarly protested about freedom of speech violations when the government unilaterally blocks access to pro-LGBT sites?
The 11 sites banned by the government last week:
1. voa-islam.com
2. nahimunkar.com
3. kiblat.net
4. bisyarah.com
5. dakwahtangerang.com
6. islampos.com
7. suaranews.com
8. izzamedia.com
9. gensyiah.com
10. muqawamah.com
11. abuzubair.net
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