T

he government has blocked almost a dozen websites it accuses of stirring up ethnic, religious or racial (SARA) hatred, in a move that highlights the dilemma the country faces in upholding free speech while countering rampant hate speech on the internet.

The move came shortly before a mass rally scheduled for Friday involving Muslim hard-liners demanding that incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama be charged with blasphemy over his remarks on a Quranic verse.

The Communications and Information Ministry announced on Thursday that it had shut down 11 sites — namely lemahirengmedia.com, portalpiyungan.com, suara-islam.com, smstauhiid.com, beritaislam24h.com, bersatupos.com, pos-metro.com, jurnalmuslim.com, media-nkri.net, lontaranews.com, and nusanews.com.

“Yes that is correct, 11 websites have been blocked since [Wednesday] night at our request,” acting ministry spokesperson Noor Iza confirmed on Thursday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

The ministry claimed several authorities, including the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the police, had requested the sites be shut down.

However, at the time of writing The Jakarta Post could still access four of the websites on the list.

The Alliance of Independence Journalists (AJI) has called on the government to be cautious in carrying out the blocking, saying it must respect freedom of expression as stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the UN Covenant on Civil and Political rights.

AJI chairman Suwarjono said in a statement on Thursday that the AJI was committed to defending press freedom and guarding the freedom of every citizen to express themselves. However, he also noted that the extent of such freedom should be confined within limits of the principles in the Universal Declaration, as well as the Covenant.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration states that every person has a right to freedom of opinion and expression, noted Suwarjono.

However, he was also careful to cite articles in the Covenant that emphasize national security and law enforcement. Article 19 of the Covenant states the right to expression has obligations and specific responsibilities, while Article 20 states that any warlike propaganda may be prohibited by law.

The AJI warned the government against inadvertently undermining freedom of speech, saying it must have a clear judicial mechanism to determine if the websites were proven to have disseminated hate speech or incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.

“A judicial evaluation mechanism is important, so that state authority in ensuring freedom of expression in line with the regulations on the Civil and Political Covenant is not misused to further the interest of [political] leaders,” Suwarjono said in the statement.

AJI advocacy field head, Iman D Nugroho, warned that as long as the government and legal authorities did not formulate a judicial mechanism, then many kinds of blocking could potentially violate citizens’ freedom of expression.

The AJI further called on all parties to exercise freedom of expression responsibly.

Mass communication analyst, Agus Sudibyo, expressed similar sentiments, saying that the public sphere belonged to everyone and therefore all actors must speak with maturity, responsibility and empathy toward others.

“Social media and the mass media should be regarded as means to share and realize social empathy,” Agus said. Freedom of speech without ethics and respect for others would only give birth to anarchy, he further said.