TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The sellers of cellphone SIM card from the Kesatuan Niaga Cellular Indonesia (KNCI) are planning to stage a rally at State Palace on Wednesday afternoon, May 9. KNCI head Qutni Tysari said the mass will gather in IRTI Monas before heading to the Palace.
"Today’s protest will involve 10,000 participants," Qutni told Tempo today.
Qutni explained the protest was aimed to urge President Joko Widodo or Jokowi null the restriction of independent registration and remove the Communication and Information Minister Rudiantara whom they deemed to have broken promises.
Qutni expected the protesters will be accepted by President Jokowi or the Palace's representatives. "Otherwise, the rally will last until tomorrow," he added.
Qutni recalled, in November 2017, Communication and Information Ministry’s Directorate General of Post and Information stated that cellular outlets have the same authority as the operator to register the prepaid card. At that time, the outlets' owner was asked to discuss the implementation with the operator and BRTI.
However, until February 2018, the implementation system was not realized due to the absence of legal basis issued by the ministry, as reasoned by the operator. KNCI then sent some letters to the ministry to realize the promise.
"In the next meeting with the operator and ATSI, the ministry remained to order the operators to limit the number of prepaid SIM cards that can be registered by outlets," Qutni said.
Qutni expressed disappointment as he felt cheated by the government. In addition, Minister Rudiantara announced to block all unregistered numbers by April 30. "This statement makes outlets owner panic since the entire SIM card will be forfeited, [the cards] cannot be registered because it is hampered by the restrictions," he asserted.
M YUSUF MANURUNG
