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Ministry to honor Baduy people's demand for internet blackout
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Baduy people go about their lives in Kanekes village on Oct. 15, 2017. (Shutterstock/ Learnmoreandmore)
T
he Communications and Information Ministry has said it will honor a request from the indigenous Baduy people of Banten to cut off internet service in their core villages, as the community seeks to prevent the online world from having a "negative impact" on its youth.
"We will honor their wish to protect their tradition, values and local wisdom from the wave of modernization,” the ministry’s director general for public information and communications, Usman Kansong, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
“We are currently talking to internet providers in the area to discuss what actions we should take.”
The Baduy are a community of around 26,000 people who live in 65 villages in Lebak regency, Banten. The tribe divides itself into an outer group called the Baduy Luar, who have partially adopted modern technology, and a sacred inner group called the Baduy Dalam, who shun the trappings of contemporary life.
On June 1, the inner group sent a letter to Lebak Regent Iti Octavia Jayabaya asking her to shut down internet access or divert the signal from nearby telecommunications towers so that it would not reach them.
Representatives of the tribe asked Lebak authorities to cut internet access in the three villages where the inner group live: Cikeusik, Cibeo and Cikartawarna.
They argued that telecommunications towers built near their area could threaten their way of life and the morals of their young people, who might be tempted to use the internet.
