JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian communication and informatics minister Tifatul Sembiring declared its anti-porn mission a "jihad," or holy religious war, that he says “will continue to the end of time.”
The announcement comes about a month after the country banned Vimeo and declared nudity synonymous with porn.
“I have often told young, religious teachers to never stop once they start jihad. A jihad may also be in the field of information," Sembiring said at a symposium on the role of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) in strengthening the Islamic and social solidarity through verification of Islamic content in mass print and the electronic media.
He added that searching for MUI on Google often turned up results defaming the counsel, but explained that that was part of the job — dispelling misinformation from those he believes know the least about pornography.
Sembiring also said that Indonesian officials have been able to block about a billion sites “on suspicion of carrying pornographic content,” surmising that there are a minimum of three billion such sites in existence.
“We may find a child laughing at a dinner table with his family, not because of his chat with the family members, but because of the friend he is talking with through the gadget he has brought to the dinner table," he said, explaining how technology has changed family dynamics in profound ways.
Antara News reported that Sembiring has come under heavy criticism after banning Vimeo wholesale, and has even been vicitimized by several cyber bullies.
