Court Says Papua Internet Block Violates Law; No Apology Demanded
Translator
Editor
3 June 2020 19:56 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Administrative District Court (PTUN) declared President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and the Minister of Communication and Informatics Johnny G. Plate guilty for blocking internet access in Papua and West Papua Provinces.
The panel of judges ruled that the President and the Minister violated the law for their policy on the internet blocking in the two provinces.
In August 2019, the government throttled the internet bandwidth in the country’s easternmost provinces due to unrest following mass demonstrations in the regions.
The policy was challenged by the freedom of the press defense team, which consists of people's coalition such as YLBHI and AJI, in November 2019.
The lawsuit initially demanded the government publicly apologize to media workers for the blackout. The plaintiffs later revised it to "demanding the court to grant the lawsuit [to declare] that restricting internet access is an act against the law."
The court has finally ruled that the internet blocking by the government or state officials violated the law.
People were not able to access the internet due to the partial internet bandwidth throttling committed by the government over Papua and West Papua in August 2019, which was followed by a complete internet blackout on August 21 that lasted up to September 4, 2019.
Editor's Note: The title of the article has been changed from "Jokowi Asked to Apologize for Papua Internet Curbs" and the article has been revised following the explanation from the people's coalition on Thursday, June 4.
FRISKI RIANA
