Gov't Involved in MUI Fatwa on PUBG

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The ministry of communication and informatics communicates with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) about the MUI haram fatwa (edict) on the online game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds alias PUBG, following the recent mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, March 15.

“MUI said they’re just about to start the study, [they] will involve related stakeholders including the communication ministry,” said the ministry’s head of public relation bureau Ferdinandus Setu when contacted on Saturday, March 23, in Jakarta.

Ferdinandus explained that the ministry has its own regulation regarding online games, namely the regulation of communication and informatics ministry No. 11/2016 on the classification of electronic interactive game which regulates, among others, the limitation of game content based on user’s age.

Read: MUI Mulls over Declaring Haram Fatwa against PUBG

“The government should protect the people in using an information technology product in the form of an electronic interactive game that is in accordance with the culture and norm of Indonesia,” says one of the points in the regulation.

The shooting game PUBG, which is popular among Indonesians, has been in the public limelight in the wake of the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15. The game requires its players to survive by fighting against other players using weapons.

MUI deputy of secretary-general Muhammad Zaitun Rasmin said that MUI research commission would first conduct a study before submitting the notion to the fatwa commission. He added that the team would also collect information from the public in advance. 

“We will not decide it in a rush, [we] will conduct a study first," he said at his office in Central Jakarta, Friday, March 22.

However, Zaitun said that PUBG does have a significant effect on terrorism behavior, and therefore, he was assured that MUI would definitely forbid the Muslims in playing the game.

Fajar Pebrianto