The Minister of Communication and Information, Rudiantara, emphasized that the Ministry of Communication and Informatics is ready to close Facebook accounts that are considered to present SARA content, are negative, hoaxes, and break the unity of the people and the nation. According to him, this is in accordance with the ITE Law and is based on the 1945 Constitution.
Not only closing a person's Facebook account, his party also firmly closed the account organizer, namely Facebook to leave Indonesia, if SARA content or hoax news had exceeded the limit.
"So, the decision is to close the account, it is in accordance with the law. However, not only closing the account, Kominfo can also close the implementation. It is possible that Facebook will be closed. If necessary, it will be forced," said Rudiantara to Jitunews.com, in a discussion on the MUI Fatwa on the Law and Guidelines for Bermuamalah Through Social Media, in Jakarta, Monday (5/6) night.
"Because we will not benefit from social media itself. If it is too much, MUI asks to be closed, so we will close it," he added.
This support for 'expelling' or closing Facebook from Indonesia, said Rudiantara, was already supported by Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives, during a hearing at the end of May 2017.
"Last week, we had a meeting with the DPR Commission I. Because there are indeed many negative situations, damaging one another and both Muslims into bad relations because of this social media," he explained.
According to Rudiantara, from the data he has obtained to date, there are 111 million Indonesians who use Facebook. That means 75 percent of all Indonesians use Facebook.
"Actually, social media is to increase ukhuwah. This social media is built to strengthen relationships between people. The current trend is to become negative," he said annoyed.
He again said that the ITE Law actually has two tasks for the government. The first is to carry out socialization and education. And, the second is to restrict access or cut off access to cyberspace.
"The submission of this fatwa (MUI Fatwa on Law and Guidelines for Bermuamalah Through Social Media) is a starting point. Then I will knock on the door asking for help again how to apply it in the field. Second, how to use this MUI fatwa reference for us to manage, especially content that is negative," he explained again closing the conversation.