Indonesia Censorship Threaten Democracy
After the Suharto Era was over, the Indonesian people enjoyed freedom of expression. But now this freedom is threatened by a variety of sensors.
The Indonesia Broadcasting Commision (KPI) sent a warning letter to television station GTV on 5 September 2019.
Posted on the KPI website, the letter said the airing of the movie was considered in violation of the broadcasting code of conduct (P3) and program standards (SPS)
The KPI has been criticized for its censorship in the past. In 2015, Sandy Cheeks, a female squirrel in the children’s cartoon Sponge Bob, was blurred in his body for wearing a bikini.
Recently in August, the KPI announced plans to monitor Netflix and YouTube content. Even though KPI admitted they don’t have the right to monitor online content.
Indonesian people have also been questioning the credibility of the KPI. Because there is still more entertainment segment than educational shows in Indonesia. That’s one example, why KPIs don’t work as expected.
Not only KPI, the Indonesia Government has failed to maintained freedom of expression. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) will enter its fifth year this year. This September is the end of Jokowi’s first term of government, before entering a new period in October.
Looking back on Jokowi’s first term, his Government has long had a poor track record when it comes to supporting democracy.
Recently, Ministry of communication and information technology of the Republic of Indonesia has blocked internet access in West Papua and Papua. The restrictions on social media features and instant messaging services that aim to avoid the negative impact of the distribution of content that cannot be accounted for and provokes. The step was taken in reference to the Information and Electronic Transactions Law (ITE Law).
In social media, there are a lot of video by citizen, that show peoples try toattack vital public facilities. They doing this kind of action because they want get attention from public and also journalist access to Papua is not prohibited by Governments.
The ongoing protests in West Papua region first erupted after Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java, reportedly faced mistreatment by police and were subjected to racial abuse.
However this is not the first time Indonesia Government doing internet shutdown. On 22 May until 25 May 2019, there is internet throttling on Jakarta. At that time the Indonesian government restricted access to social media, especially Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as the application of WhatsApp internet-based messaging communication services after the demonstrations and riots of 21–22 May 2019.
Internet throttling is part of internet shutdown. Based on accessnow.org, an internet shutdown happens when someone or Governments intentionally disrupts the internet or mobile apps to control what people say or do.
Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director Usman Hamid said internet shutdown in Papua is appalling attack on people’s right to freedom of expression. He also said that censorship is not the answer to escalating tension.
People must be able to share information and peacefully speak their minds. At the same time, they must be able to document and share evidence of abuses committed by security forces, particularly as Indonesian authorities are sending more security forces to the region.
Internet shutdown become an irony. Jokowi always said that Indonesia will enter Indonesia 4.0 with digitalization. Because to unlock digitalization, need access to internet. But there is backfire for peoples who use internet to critics Government.
For make it worse, Government tries to criminalize human right activist likes Veronica Koman. Following Koman, Dhandy Dwi Laksono activist and also journalist got caught by police cause tweeting about violence in Papua.
In conclusion, it could be argued that the Government officials are not ready for the era of openness and freedom of expression. All good instances above have displayed a concrete proofed that Government has no specific plan to tackle this battle.
To tackle the problem is a good suggestion from SAFEnet (Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network).
First, the Indonesian Government must find the best solution in handling hoax and negative content while respecting the principles of respect for human rights on the internet.
The Government also must be open to receive input and cooperate with many parties to protect the right to access information in Indonesia.
Indonesia Government needs to inform the public about the impact of the spread of hoax. Nevertheless, with media another stakeholders, they still to need to put away censorship as a way to carry out the mandate of democracy.