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pril 1, p3

Responding to public outcry accusing the government of infringing free speech rights, the Communications and Information Ministry reopened on Tuesday access to 22 websites that the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) had condemned for promoting radicalism.

The government initially blocked the websites following the circulation of web-based Islamic State (IS) organization propaganda that authorities believed was helping IS recruit supporters in the country. Rights groups have said the anti-terrorism measure could backfire, setting the stage for crackdowns on critics of the government.

Earlier, the ministry blocked access to a host of websites, including arrahmah.com, voa-islam.com, dakwatuna.com, kafilahmujahid.com, an-najah.net, muslimdaily.net, hidayatullah.com, salam-online.com, known for their incendiary content. As of Tuesday evening, all the sites were back online.

Your comments:

Politics overrule state security and common sense. It'€™s difficult, if not impossible, to monitor all websites all the time.

'€œRepressive'€ measures need to be taken immediately on any sign of radicalism. Don'€™t give them a second chance; a radical will remain a radical and they will radicalize more and more people. The country'€™s security and secularism is at stake.

Will

This is a joke. For instance, gemaislam.com is a site endorsed by Al Irsyad, one of the oldest Islamic organizations besides the NU and Muhammadiyah.

They often support the BNPT in counterterrorism and the BNPT has said it supports the group. And yet it was suggested that its site be blocked anyway.

It appears that the BNPT doesn'€™t have any standards by which to gauge radicalism. It obviously didn'€™t observe the sites.

I'€™m afraid that there are bunch of people hijacking the BNPT to smash the websites because the websites oppose them. They use radicalism as a reason.

Abie

You guys ridicule freedom of speech in Indonesia, but at the same time you can do it in Indonesian newspapers. Such an irony.

Brawijaya

If Indonesia wants to progress, then there should be freedom of speech for everyone, regardless of one'€™s faith, belief or anything else. Democracy is a fantastic word; equality is a fantastic word; so is Pancasila.

Let me remind so-called educated or learned policymakers, civil servants, government ministers and so-called religious or political leaders, an ounce of practice is better than a ton of preaching.

Ramsingha

This news only increased the traffic of the mentioned websites by giving them free publicity. If they do indeed promote radicalism, congratulations to the government for informing those who were previously not aware.

H. Cahyadi

This is typical double standards.  When it comes to banning videos and the like, people remain silent. But when the government bans websites containing religions materials or teachings, the immediate response is to call any government action repressive, lacking a legal framework or threatening freedom of speech, despite the obvious radical content that these websites promote.

So to the BNPT, I say just block these sites and other potential religious radical websites. Please do so as soon as possible.

Itsbad