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ore than 400 bloggers and hackers from across the country agreed on Thursday to develop a peaceful virtual world in response to the increasing spread of radicalism in the virtual arena.

'€œWe agree to help the government fight the spread of radicalism,'€ one of the bloggers, Bambang Herialdi of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, told a workshop called Peace Program in the Virtual World in Yogyakarta on Thursday.

The virtual world and social media, Bambang said, was being used by terrorists and extremists to spread radicalism as it was cheap and could be accessed from anywhere.

Bloggers know how to recognize websites and forums that promote radicalism, he said.

'€œWe are willing to help save the young generation, but cooperation with various parties is needed. For example on how to present content correctly,'€ Bambang said.

Social media expert Nukman Luthfie said 60 percent of active internet users were young people who were untainted and in search of an identity. '€œThey are vulnerable to radicalism or figures considered heroic even though they may be perpetrators of violence,'€ he said.

Nukman said, however, that blocking radical sites would not achieve much because new sites could be established or content rewritten and quickly promoted again in the virtual world.

Separately, former Jamaah Islamiah executive Abdul Rahman Ayub said many sites contained misinterpretations of religious issues. He said it was deliberately done to influence young people who lacked insight.

Such sites typically identify other groups as infidels and justify violence for religious reasons.

'€œThey can even refer to other Muslims as infidels,'€ Abdul said.

Meanwhile, National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) deputy head Agus Surya Bakti said his agency would launch a portal and two sites this year to flood the virtual world with positive content aimed at countering radicalism.

He said one website would contain information about various aspects of terrorism and radicalism while the other would contain educational material as comparative discourse.

'€œThat way, the community, especially youths, will have appropriate reading material and they can judge for themselves,'€ Agus said.

He added that terrorism had undergone extraordinary developments and adaptation. Terrorists have been arrested but terrorism continues to grow and spread.

'€œOver the last three years, the virtual world has been an instrument used by terrorists to spread radicalism and extremism and for recruitment,'€ Agus said.

Such things, he said, cannot be prevented simply by the BNPT or the government closing sites containing radical content. Everything has to be conducted simultaneously with all the stakeholders and turned into a national movement.