TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Police chief General Tito Karnavian said that the government had no intention to block Telegram in Indonesia. The government only expects the platform to allow the police to track messages sent between terrorist groups.
The request for access to Telegram, Tito said, had been sent by the police to the Information and Communication Ministry. He explained that the police will need the access for security reasons.
Read: Telegram Obeys Indonesia, Blocks Terror Content
“So, we had asked for a special access for terrorism cases, but it was ignored,” he said today before attending a meeting with the House’s Legal Commission at Parliamentary Complex in Jakarta.
Due to the lack of positive response from Telegram, the government has decided to block the app. As such, the government expects Telegram to start coordinating with it following the move.
“We already knew that they are profit-oriented; they have millions of users in Indonesia. It’s only after we shut it down that they started thinking,” he said.
Read: Jokowi: Govt Blocks Telegram for Security Reasons
Tito Karnavian was informed that Telegram had already held talks with the Communication and Informatics Minister over the blocking. “If [the access to Telegram] wants to be re-opened, fine. But give us the access to the data that relate to terrorism,” he said.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov had earlier reacted to the Indonesian government’s move via his twitter account @durov. “That's strange, we have never received any requests/complaints from the Indonesian government. We'll investigate and make an announcement,” he tweeted.
AHMAD FAIZ