The assassination attempt against a priest in North Sumatra last Sunday, styled on the Islamic State (IS) radical movement’s killing in France earlier in August, may have been comical for the way the perpetrator himself botched it, but it is a reminder of how far the violent group based in Syria has penetrated into the minds of some Indonesian Muslims.

IS propaganda for the creation and expansion of the self-proclaimed caliphate has spread like a virus thanks to the internet, now widely accessible to all. Inevitably, some vulnerable minds, irrespective of age and economic status, have been affected.

This year alone, Indonesia has had at least three attacks inspired by IS propaganda, although thankfully, none were as devastating as the attacks in Europe. We should not be complacent. The police and intelligence agencies need to remain vigilant against any attack, small or big.

The hundreds of Indonesians, including women and children, who have gone to Syria to join IS have primarily been influenced by the promises of a “truly” Islamic state they saw on YouTube. The documentary film Jihad Selfie, produced by Indonesia’s prominent expert on religious terrorism Noor Huda Ismail, illustrates how a young Indonesian teenager was inspired to join IS by his friends through email exchanges and social media postings.

For many in the government, the logical conclusion of all this is that the time has come to impose some restrictions on the internet and shield the minds and souls of Indonesians from violent ideologies like that promulgated by IS.

Yeah right, like governments can censor the internet.

Not only would this be a futile if not wasteful exercise, it is a sure bet that doing so would shut down many legitimate voices on the internet, or at least make them less accessible to a wider audience.

What these proponents of censorship conceal, deliberately if not conveniently, is that the internet does far more good than spreading evil propaganda and hate speech.

China is hardly a model success story for internet control. Visitors to China can get frustrated because many websites that are legitimate, including access to your email inbox, are blocked. The costs are also prohibitive, as Beijing reportedly employs over 1 million people to police the internet, including to report on the sites people visit.

All technologies, including the most modern for information and communication, are ideology-neutral. The internet may be a Western invention and powerful institutions in the US who created the World Wide Web may have access to what is being transmitted through cyberspace, but the volume of postings and clicks must be so staggering by now that it is not worth the effort to control or even monitor every single activity online.

Ultimately, whether the internet is used for good or evil purposes depends on the person controlling the keyboard or the mouse.

Cyberspace is now the real battle ground for the culture wars globally as well as in smaller communities, societies or nations. It is how IS and the like reach out internationally and recruit people. But IS is just one of many millions of groups spreading their ideas through the net.

The internet today has become an open market place for ideas to compete for the hearts and minds, and souls of the people.

Everything and anything goes on the internet, including unfortunately the most vile and extreme of ideas and thoughts, along with hate speech and social media bullying campaigns. There is pornography — the most popular sites — along with dating services.

Indonesians, like everyone else around the world, are today exposed to all these ideas and information as well as ideologies, like never before.

So what is a nation to do to protect its young souls from falling prey to the increasingly aggressive campaign by these violent ideologies?

The best and only thing the government can do is to support rather than suppress internet freedom, making sure that the good and legitimate voices have equal access and are as prominent. There is a strong case for improving internet literacy so that everyone uses the technology for purposes that enhance their lives and prosperity.

The culture wars have always been with us. In the recent past, these were conducted through print and broadcast media. The internet has made these wars even more pronounced as more people are now being affected. No one is shielded from the wars.

Indonesia, however, should look at its own history of how the nation has evolved over centuries by embracing the best ideas, thoughts, ideologies and religions that came to its shores. In terms of religion, historically Indonesians were once Buddhists and then Hindus and later many converted to Christianity and Islam.

Local wisdom combined with the best foreign ideas and practices made Indonesia what it is today. This happened because our ancestors have always been open to new ideas.

The last thing we need today is to close ourselves off to new ideas and innovations, something that can only happen by allowing as much space as possible for these interaction and debates to take place.

Whether Indonesians are becoming more liberal or conservative should be decided by the outcome of unimpeded culture wars.

Keep the internet free and let the best ideas and thoughts win these wars.

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