By: Jabir Ahmed *)
The policy of Ministry of Informatics and Communications (Kemenkominfo) to shutdown 19 Islamic Websites at the end of last month has been critised by a journalist group and some Islamic activists. Those websites was acussed of spreading and carrying radical content and being symphatisers of militant group ISIS according to National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT) that submitted the “banned” request. However, the policy was considered to be too hasty without any further investigation.
A number of editorial managements of online Islamic media whose websites were blocked protested and questioned the criteria of BNPT used in determining wether the news considered carry out radical content. The representatives of hidayatullah.com and dakwatuna.com for instance claimed that their websites are nothing more than preaching Islam materials (da’wah) and never promote radical ideologies.
Moreover, Forum of Coordination of Dakwah Kampus (FSLDK) in its release to response the sites shutdown stated that the policy could be categorised as disctrimination act against Islam and would just cause Islamophobia in the so-called country with largest Muslim population around the globe. In addition, Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in agreement with those protests said that the procedures of taking down the Islamic websites done by the ministry was considered to be a form of act against the law and abuse of power which could threaten citizen’s freedom of expression.
It has been said that the repressive methods in dealing with ideology-based radicalism would not give “a good result” rather than hatred and more radical actions. The author thus believe that the government’s policy on deradicalisation program should be in line with the spirit of democracy, human rights and most importantly preserve inter-religious harmony which is one of the crucial indicators in strengthening the national defense system.
*) The Author Is Jakarta Regional Contributor