The trouble with censorship

Shane Preuss
Graduate of the Master of International Relations program at the University of Melbourne

PREMIUM

Jakarta / Sat, June 29, 2019 / 02:31 pm

Illustration of censorship. (Shutterstock/-)

In the opinion piece “Let’s give conspiracy theory fans what they deserve — milkshakes” published in The Jakarta Post on June 14, M. Taufiqurrahman makes the case for censorship of “harmful” speech. He begins by pointing to recent claims made by popular YouTube preacher Rahmat Bauqini that the triangular motifs used in the design of Al-Safar Mosque is West Java were symbols of the illuminati and the Antichrist that “will enable the Antichrist to realize his apocalyptic ambitions through Zionism”. Taufiqurrahman is critical of the decision by West Java Mayor Ridwan Kamil, the architect of the mosque, to sit down with Rahmat in a public discussion, arguing there was nothing to be gained from engaging with people with such extreme views and that it was an error to give Rahmat a platform to “normalize” these views. T...