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span class="caption" style="width: 398px;">Not just any phone: A crowd waits outside of Pacific Place mall during the launch of the BlackBerry Bellagio smartphone last month. Ninety people fainted and several others were taken to hospital with broken bones after it was reported that the quota of heavily discounted phones had sold out at the event. JP/Ricky YudhistiraThe relationship between BlackBerry producer Research in Motion (RIM) and the Indonesian government has hit rock bottom as both parties continue to aggravate one another.

Deeply disappointed by RIM’s recent decision to set up a data center in Singapore, the Indonesian Telecommunications Regulatory Body (BRTI) has requested the government terminate all BlackBerry network services in the country.

BRTI argued that it was crucial for Indonesia to host the data center due to national security interests, and that RIM had reneged on its commitment to cooperate with the government on the matter.

RIM senior PR manager for Southeast Asia Oliver Pilgerstorfer said the Indonesian government had never been specific on the requirements for the data center, which finally led to the company choosing Singapore.

Pilgerstorfer argued that RIM had complied with all agreements made with the government in January. The agreements include an obligation for RIM to set up customer care and service centers, to facilitate lawful interception of information, to block pornographic content and to build “a regional data center”.

RIM is not only facing the threat of eviction, it is also deeply embroiled in a legal battle with the authorities after the police named RIM president director of its Indonesia division Andrew Cobham as a suspect in a recent sale stampede.

The relationship between RIM and the government has never been friendly. RIM has always been reluctant to invest in the Indonesian market, regardless of the latter being considered as the company’s last bastion of growth amid dwindling global sales.

The relationship was then marred over RIM’s refusal to block Internet access to pornographic content. Such an obligation applies to all Internet network service providers in Indonesia. After much public spat with Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring, RIM finally bowed to pressure in January this year.

Although the government’s demand seemed reasonable, constant bickering with foreign companies such as RIM could prove to be damaging to the investment climate, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) deputy chairman for telecommunication, information technology and research Didie Suwondho said.

“Threatening to ban RIM from marketing their products in Indonesia is not right in my opinion. Foreign investors are setting their sights on Indonesia due to its satisfactory economic development amid the crisis in America and in Europe,” Didie told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

“The right thing to do for the government is to offer those investors more facilities. Kadin is worried that if threats are used toward foreign investors, then they will become hesitant to invest in the country.”

Didie said it would be better for the government to try to lure RIM to invest in Indonesia by improving relevant infrastructure.

“If the government wants RIM to build a factory here, then the state must be able to provide sufficient infrastructure as well. The government must ensure that we are also able to provide the needed components. If investors build their factory here while they still have to import components, then there will be no difference,” he said.

“The issue is the same with the government’s wish for RIM to build data centers here. The government needs to provide adequate infrastructure, such as fiber optic networks and a reliable electricity power source. Data center investment depends on trust. The government must be able to ensure investors that the data centers and their confidential contents would be fully secured,” he added.

Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofjan Wanandi said the government should not be discriminatory toward RIM.

“Do other telecommunication companies build their data centers in Indonesia? We must be fair.”

BlackBerry smartphones entered the country in 2004 and were introduced by Indosat.

According to the ministry’s data, Indonesia boasted 2.63 million BlackBerry users in 2010, the largest number in Southeast Asia, and is on track for 4 million users by the end of the year.

RIM had also projected to reach 42 percent of the smartphone market in Indonesia by the year’s end due to growing demand.

Sofjan said those figures were enough reason for the government to show more respect toward RIM.

“It is reasonable for the government to ask RIM to do something domestically considering its growing market in Indonesia. However, I must stress that the government should have asked RIM to invest here using professionalism, not threats.”

Indonesia Consumers’ Protection Foundation (YLKI) chairman Sudaryatmo said that government was being reckless by threatening RIM and had failed to take into consideration issues that could be potentially faced by the millions of BlackBerry customers if the smartphone services were stopped.

“The customers will become victims. The government should have regulated that RIM had to build factories and data centers from the moment it entered the Indonesian market,” he said.

Sudaryatmo said that the government also had to look in the mirror when contemplating why RIM had no interest at all in building factories and data centers in the country.

The government’s threat apparently had no solid legal basis, as Tifatul said on Tuesday that the government did not have an official regulation on how foreign telecommunication vendors had to conduct their businesses in the country.

He said the ministry had planned to issue the regulation, which was a mandate of the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction Law, in early 2012.

The ministry’s spokesman, Gatot Dewa Broto, said the regulation would contain provisions demanding that foreign telecommunication firms establish data centers in Indonesia.