Wah-wah! Here comes the sun.

indonesia bans YouTube and MySpace

// April 9th, 2008 // news

According to Indonesian Matters, Indonesian’s ISP has blocked some websites that show the short documentary movie Fitna by the Dutch politician Geert Wilders. The reason behind it is because the message carried by the movie is anti Islam.

So, here’s the list of the website that can no longer viewed in Indonesia still according to Indonesian Matters :

* Youtube.com
* Myspace.com
* Liveleak.com
* Rapidshare.com
* Multiply.com
* Video.Google.com
* Themoviefitna.com

Wikipedia wrote : Fitna is a 2008 short film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders. The film explores Qur’anic motivation for terrorism, Islamic universalism, and Islam in the Netherlands.

I haven’t watched this movie, so I don’t really have opinion about that. What concern me the most is the freedom of press in Indonesia. I just can’t believe there isn’t any word from them. This is not about pro or anti the movie, Fitna. Forget about that for a while. This is about the freedom that Indonesian finally almost have after the fall of Suharto. If the government can do this, imagine what they can do in the future. My poor Indonesia…

I’m glad I can still watch YouTube from here. It’s like one of the best site ever. I know many Indonesian choose using Friendster over MySpace but I know many of them also have Multiply. Wonder what they think about this.

UPDATE: Indonesia has decided to unblocked YouTube but they still blocked all the link that direct to the movie itself.

I stated before that I didn’t hear anything from Indonesian press about this matter, but actually they did. Jakarta Post newspaper on their editorial said that the ban “sent a disturbing sign that the president and his advisers are not only dumb, but also dangerous. It shows a mindset that takes us back a decade to the era of censorship.”

I’m glad that there are still people who aren’t let themselves be blinded and provoked by the movie and try to see that matter from the freedom of press point of view (*)