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Activists urge govt to ensure net neutrality in Indonesia
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LBH Pers research and networking division head Asep Komaruddin, Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) researcher Wahyudi Djafar, Alliance of IndependentJournalists (AJI) secretary general Arfi Bambani and former chairman for the Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association (APJII) Semmy Pangerapan speak during a discussion in Jakarta on June 8. (JP/Viriya Paramita Singgih)
T
he Internet should be an equal world for all of its users, without any discrimination in terms of accessing content or expressing ideas, activists have said. However, the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction (ITE) Law has failed to preserve that principle, they said, and most likely, the revised version of the law would as well.
“Every stakeholder should pay attention to this messy law which has violated the principle of network neutrality, because it could penalize everyone for defamation,” Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) secretary general Arfi Bambani said during a discussion in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The network (net) neutrality principle means that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally. Hence, it promotes the idea of an open internet that upholds transparency and proscribes censorship.
Arfi later mentioned recent statements made by the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association (ICMI) secretary-general Jafar Hafsah, who called on the government to ban Youtube and Google because the websites “spread pornographic and violent content without any control”.
“For instance, if people make a deal by phone that implicates them in corruption, could the phone provider be penalized?” Arfi said, responding to Jafar’s statements.
However, Arfi said that under the 2008 ITE law the government could indeed ban those websites. Article 27, paragraph 3 of the law states that people can be criminalized if they deliberately distribute and/or transmit and/or make accessible electronic information or documents that contain slanderous and defamatory language.
Meanwhile, former chairman for the Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association (APJII), Semmy Pangerapan, questioned the Communications and Information Ministerial Decree No. 19/2014 which allows Internet service providers (ISP) to directly ban websites hosting negative content.
“The authority to filter the content shouldn’t be given to ISPs as each of them could have a different policy regarding banning content. The government should set the standard and implement the ban by themselves,” Semmy said.
Meanwhile, Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) researcher Wahyudi Djafar said that the 2008 ITE law had been used to criminalize at least 127 netizens, particularly for violating Article 27, 28 and 29. Those articles stipulate prohibited acts, including the distribution of content related to pornography, gambling, defamation, extortion, hoaxes, hate speech, or threats.
“Those matters have already been stipulated in the Criminal Code [KUHP]. So it would be better to take those articles out of the ITE law,” Wahyudi said.
The government and the House of Representatives are currently deliberating the revision of the law. However, such efforts would be useless if there was no significant change in the law, Wahyudi said.
“I’m worried that this is not going to solve anything. It seems like the House just wants to meet its legislation target,” he said. (vps)
