TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Ombudsman official Alvin Lie opined the internet block policy in Papua and West Papua applied because the government failed to implement the user identity policy, especially prepaid mobile users. As a result, the government could not detect hoax and provocative contents without shutting off the system.

“Because the regulation is not applied consistently, so there are many unknown identities, and this causes problems of false news or hoax spread,” said Alvin in the Ombudsman office, Kuningan, South Jakarta, Wednesday, August 29.

The policy in question is the Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) Ministerial Regulation No. 14/2017 concerning registration of telecommunication users, in which users are required to register their phone numbers using NIK or ID card number.

Therefore, Alvin urged Kominfo’s Directorate General of Applications and Information to promote policy implementation considering most of the internet and social media users utilize cell phones.

“If the regulation that requires registration for accessing the internet or social media properly imposed, this will be easier [to curb hoaxes], instead of blocking the internet as currently happening,” said Alvin.

Meanwhile, Kominfo’s Director General of Applications and Information, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, said his ministry did not have a technology to restrict data access for a certain region, so it decided to restrict the data network in Papua and West Papua.

DIAS PRASONGKO