The Indonesian authorities on November 18 blocked entry to Asia Sentinel in some areas of the nation together with the capital Jakarta, the nation’s most populous area, apparently in irritation over a November 4 article reporting on press restrictions within the restive province of Papua.
A discover blocking entry to Indonesian appeared on Asia Sentinel’s web page asserting in Indonesian and English languages solely that “Sorry, entry to this web site is blocked in relation to the Ministry of Communications and Informatics Regulation No. 19/2014 associated to a Protected Web. Thanks to your understanding.”
Asia Sentinel, which is legally US-based though its operations are in Asia, is making an attempt to establish the scope and period of the block. Apparently, it isn’t blocked in Bali and different areas, and the publication is accessible on cell phones in sure areas. Makes an attempt to get a response from the communications ministry failed. Calls to the US Embassy in Jakarta had been met with a reply that there was nobody accessible to discuss the difficulty.
“We don’t see any purpose for which your media needs to be punished for printing the reality,” mentioned Cédric Alviani, East Asia bureau head for Reporters With out Borders. “RSF calls on the Indonesian authorities to right away raise each restriction, they need to by no means have imposed them. Blocking the media will not be the answer to fixing issues. We don’t advocate the Indonesian authorities to persist in denying protection of the scenario in Papua.”
Indonesia, Alviani mentioned, ranks 113th of 180 nations within the 2021 World Press Freedom Index printed by RSF.
The article in query, Indonesia Restricts Press Protection of Restive Province, identified that the federal government is holding a decent lid on entry by each home and worldwide journalists, elevating suspicions of a cover-up of ‘irregularities,’ and that Jakarta fears rising openness to a pro-independence marketing campaign. The federal government, it mentioned, “apparently doesn’t need to repeat its expertise in Timor Leste, the place the arrival of worldwide media and human rights activists after the occupation by Indonesia for twenty-four years helped to open the way in which for independence in 2002.”
The story additionally quoted Colonel Muhammad Aidi, head of Info for the XVII Cenderawasih Army Regional Command, as denying accusations that journalistic entry in Papua is restricted. “Indonesia, together with Papua, has by no means been closed to anybody, so long as it follows the procedures relevant on this nation,” he advised native media.