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A net rude awakening
Irrespective of how we feel about being called one of the rudest nations in the world, the internet has become a free-for-all, no-holds-barred place for people expressing their views.
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ndonesia counts among the rudest nations on Earth when it comes to the internet and social media usage, according to Microsoft. Granted, it’s a survey involving only 16,000 respondents in 32 countries, but Indonesians rank 29th along with Mexicans in the 2020 Microsoft Civility Index published last week. We can take heart that Russians and South Africans are worse than we are.
Considering what we see in our cyberspace, this news should not come as shocking to internet users in the country. What rankled many Indonesian netizens is their wounded national pride; that when it comes to online civility, we should come behind neighbors Singapore (fourth-most civil), Australia (seventh), Malaysia (10th), the Philippines (13th), Thailand (19th) and Vietnam (24th).
Not surprisingly, their response was swift and at times, rude. According to a CNN report, Microsoft closed the comment section of its Instagram page after it was flooded by some 2,000 postings from Indonesia.
Also predictably, the government announced a plan to set up a net ethics committee, whose task is not only to draw up a code of ethics for the internet and social media, but also to enforce them. Communications and Information Minister Johnny G Plate said on Friday that it was the wish of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to promote ethical and courteous online behavior.
Irrespective of how we feel about being called one of the rudest nations in the world, the internet has become a free-for-all, no-holds-barred place for people expressing their views. As we brag about being the third-largest democracy in the world, we are showing our worst traits online.
This is getting to the point of undermining our democracy altogether. With the amount of unrestrained online bullying and harassment, many people have decided not to use the internet to express their voice. The National Commission on Human Rights revealed in January that as many as 36 percent of internet users say they would not criticize the government for fear of retribution, off- and online. This sounds like a recipe for an authoritarian government in the making.
While we welcome the government’s initiative to promote more ethical and courteous online behavior, the plan to set up an “internet police” to enforce the code of ethics is going too far. Ethics are desirable, but no one can enforce others to observe them.
There is also no need to set up a committee to draw up a new code when these are available on the internet. Most social media platforms and many apps have pages and pages of ethics guidelines, which in all likelihood are read by few people. The same fate awaits whatever new set of codes the government will come up with.
Most codes of ethics are common sense and universal. The Microsoft Civility Index will be a good place to look for them. The Microsoft report lists four principles used in preparing the index: The Golden Rule (do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you), respecting differences, pausing before replying and standing up for yourself and for others.
If we observe them and when Microsoft publishes its Digital Civility Index next year, Indonesia will not rank among the most uncivil users of the internet.
