Govt Steps Up Cyber Patrols Over Content Following Makassar Suicide Bombing

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Communication and Informatics Ministry has stepped up cyber patrolling over violent content related to suicide bombing in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

"We again appeal to the public to not disseminate such content and together to counteract radicalism and terrorism both in the physical and digital spaces," the ministry's spokesman, Dedy Permadi, noted in a press statement on Monday.

Since the bombing in Makassar on Sunday (March 28), the ministry has been tracing violent content related to the explosion, such as posting on body parts and injuries suffered by victims of the bomb that exploded in front of a church in Makassar.

The suicide bombers, a married couple riding a motorcycle, died on the spot, while 20 people comprising security officers and civilians, were injured in the incident.

The ministry discovered 134 pieces of inappropriate content on the suicide bombing on social media, comprising 34 on Facebook, 59 on Twitter, 21 on Instagram, and 20 on YouTube.

"All related content has been reported by the ministry to the respective platforms for termination of access or blocking," he remarked.

The National Police identified the suicide bombers as L and his wife, YSF, who worked as private employees.

The perpetrators were members of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which had once operated in Jolo, the Philippines.

The Police's Densus 88 counter-terrorism squad conducted a search of their rented house in Makassar and their parent's house located only some 50 meters away.

Read: Suicide Bombing in Makassar; Densus 88 Nab 13 Suspected Terrorists in 3 Regions

ANTARA