News Focus : MINISTER READY TO SHELVE REGULATION ON ON-LINE CONTENT MONITORING By Eliswan Azly

Jakarta, Feb 19 (ANTARA) - Information and Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring said his office was ready to witdraw a controversial draft regulation to monitor online contents as it was considered a potential tool to curtail freedom of expression
Upon his arrival in the country from his visit to Sweden after conducting a series of negotiations with cell phone companies on Thursday evening, the minister said if the regulation was seen as a means to stifle press freedom, he had no objection at all to withdraw it.

The emergence of the multimedia content controls in the proposed draft ministrial regulation is currently facing a public test as it could draw criticism and protest from the internet community in Indonesia.

In response to the controversy over Tifatul's plan to regulate internet contents, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday reminded cabinet ministers of the need for them to first ask for his approval in principle before planning to issue a regulation.

"I want to remind all members of the second United Indonesia cabinet, please report to the President through the cabinet secretary or the minister/state secretary if you wish or plan to issue a government regulation or a draft law," the president said.

He said only after the president had given the green light in principle could the minister concerned start drafting the law or regulation.

After that the minister should report the progress of the draft regulation or law at a cabinet meeting.

President Yudhoyono also advised his cabinet ministers not to issue premature statements regarding regulations or laws they wanted to issue to avoid misperceptions among the public.

"In the past few days I have been following a discourse in the mass media regarding the idea to issue of a kind of regulation on the Internet to regulate for example its contents and others that are linked to it," he said.

The public debate on the planned ministerial regulation, he said, had created the impression that the government wished to curtail citizens' political freedom and rights.

"Certainly a sensitive issue like this could cause mis-perceptions as if they are all to be regulated," he said, adding while the fact was that it was still a mere idea from the ministry of communications and information to avoid the negative impact of information technology.

President Yudhoyono said before planning to issue a regulation that could have a sensitive impact, every ministry had better discuss the issue first with the parties concerned and consider public opinions.

"If it is still a mere idea and has not yet become a regulation or is not yet on the minister's table, it should not be talked about in public. What they should do is just explain it to make people understand the issue. A lot of issues are sensitive and could cause misperceptions. So be careful when giving a statement or communicating with the public," he said.

News media, bloggers and other members of the online community were united in voicing objections to a Ministry of Communication and Information Technology draft regulation to create a team to monitor online content.

The Indonesian Internet Service Providers, the Alliance of Independent Journalists, noted bloggers and a news portal all agreed that incorrect perceptions about the Internet are behind the flaws in the draft, which stresses controlling illegal content without addressing the development of positive content.

Karaniya Dharmasaputra, editor-in-chief of news portal Vivanews.com, said in a joint news conference that the draft regulation is 'a setback from the spirit of the reform era that upholds the freedom of expression.' He warned that the plan might prevent the growth of the Internet in the country.

"This is contrary to other countries, which support the growth of the Internet by giving out incentives," he said.

Valens Riyadi from Indonesian Internet Service Providers, or APJII, said: "We do not reject the idea of healthy Internet use but we reject the repressive way of regulating it as drafted in the regulation. We have the impression that the draft will give the authority for Internet service providers to intercept, so does this mean we can intercept ministers? e-mails"
Valens added that Internet users can always opt for filtered access if they see the need.

Margiyono, secretary general of the Alliance of Independent Journalists, or AJI, acknowledged that most countries police the Internet to weed out content deemed harmful.

"The government must choose which approach it wants to emulate, and it depends on the government?s political will," Margiyono said.

"He doubted that the model used in the draft would be effective in making the digital sphere safer for users and claimed that 'there might be a political motive behind it.' Valens said that if the government is taking the example of China, it is not applicable because 'unlike China, the Internet infrastructure here is owned by the private sector.'
Noted Kompasiana.com blogger Pepy Nugroho said the government?s draft policy would not be applicable to filter Web sites that are user-generated.

Meanwhile, ICT Watch, a nongovernmental organization working for a healthy and secure Internet, said in a statement that it understands the draft was made with 'good intentions to protect the public from negative content on the Internet and to provide the basis of legal certainty for Internet service providers if there were contents determined as illegal disseminated through the providers? infrastructure.'
However, it said the draft tended to control, regulate and sanction Web content with a ?top-down? approach.

"It is better for the government to use its resources to boost grassroots activities in developing the quality and quantity of positive local content," it said.

Ministry spokesman Gatot Dewa Broto said the ministry would accommodate feedback on the draft regulation 'as long as it has clear justifications.'