Blocking Voa-Islam.Com Website: An Appropriate Regulation or

Human Rights Violation

Masyrofah, Nahrowi, Sahrul Adam

and Tarsius Murwadji

Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta

University of Padjadjaran Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Blocking Islamic Website, Online Media, Regulation, Human Rights, Radicalism

Abstract: The Ministry of Communications and Informatics blocked eleven sites containing negative content. The

eleven sites are voa-Islam.com, nahimunkar.com, kiblat.net, bisyarah.com, dakwahtangerang.com,

Islampos.com, suaranews.com, izzamedia.com, gensyiah.com, muqawamah.com, abuzubair.net. Voa-

Islam.com highlights as a radical Islamic site. This blocking takes place in 2016 and reap the pros and cons.

The party that proclaims it as one of the government's steps to ward off radicalism and that is contrary to the

action The Ministry of Communications and Informatics which contain freedom of expression for Human

Rights. This paper asserts that regulation can counteract the proper understanding of radicalism through

media, especially online media. The Indonesian government through the communication and informatics

authorities is responsible for disciplining and suppressing radical sites. The results of the analysis found that

the reason for the implementation of the regulation of blocking of Voa-Islam through Ministerial Regulation

No. 19 of 2014 to protect the people of Indonesia and they will understand that radicalism related to the

concept of public security which is the responsibility of the government. The role of government in

conducting direct control of online media products is radical Islamic site. The urgency of blocking is to

counter radicalism amongst the people who are behind the blocking of Voa-Islam.com's website because it

has negative content that can affect a person's thinking in the act of radicalism and acts of terrorism in

Indonesia. The impact of deregulation and liberalization of this regulation is contrary to the freedom of

opinion guaranteed by the constitution. The basis of blocking of sites that are deemed to contain negative

content is of course referred to in the ITE Act (Information and Electronic Transactions) no. 19 of 2016.

1 INTRODUCTION

In order to counter the danger caused by radicalism

and terrorism act, universal prevention has been

exercised by the entire nation, including the

government by involving the ministries, related

institutions, and all the components of societies.

These efforts started from the top to the grassroots

and integrated holistically in order to establish a

better cooperation. The prevention of radicalism and

terrorism is in need to be encouraged, especially by

involving every layers in the society from those who

are active within the internet by using google,

facebook, twitter, instagram, whatsapp, line, BBM,

path, or youtube, to those who are not or haven’t

been in touch with the internet.

Indonesian government, represented by the

Ministry of Communication and Information

Technology, has an authority to discipline, ban, and

block websites that floats in the internet that falls in

the category of containing a negative content,

including hate speech, racist comments, slanders and

defamations, provocations, and supporting

radicalism. Based on the Minister of Communication

and Informatics Regulation No. 19 of 2014 on

controlling internet websites containing negative

contents, the government has the right to block the

website that was deemed helping to spread

radicalism.

Masyrofah, ., Nahrowi, ., Adam, S. and Murwadji, T.

Blocking Voa-Islam.Com Website: An Appropriate Regulation or Human Rights Violation.

DOI: 10.5220/0009944330193028

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), pages 3019-3028

ISBN: 978-989-758-458-9

3019

Since the regulation took effect in 2014, there

have been 773,097 websites with negative contents

blocked by the government until December 2016.

The biggest number came from website containing

pornographic content which is 766,000 websites in

total. The rest of the number came from websites

containing contents related to radicalism, racist

comment, fraudulence, gambling, security, and

breach of copyrights. Up until December, the

Ministry of Communication and Information

Technology has received a number of reports

through its social media regarding negative contents

in social media with 1,769 accounts of Youtube,

Twitter, and Facebook reported in total.

In early 2017, the ministry blocked another 11

website that was deemed containing negative

contents, specifically related to radicalism. Those

websites are voa-Islam.com, nahimunkar.com,

kiblat.net, bisyarah.com, dakwahtangerang.com,

Islampos.com, suaranews.com, izzamedia. com,

gensyiah.com, muqawamah.com, and abuzubair.net.

Since the ministry started to hunt these radical

Islamic websites in 2015, the ministry has asked all

of the internet service providers operated in

Indonesia to block the website so that it can’t be

accessed by the people. According to Noor Iza, the

acting head of public relation in the Ministry of

Communication and Information Technology, the

eleven websites that were blocked are the result of

thorough observation of around 200 websites and

online news outlet that were believed to contain

negative contents.

One of these blocked Islamic websites is Voa-

Islam.com. This website is indeed very vocal in

criticizing the problem happening in Indonesia,

especially related to the politics, religion, and socio-

culture. Government policy is one of the main

spotlights in this website as it argues that the policy

was deemed to do harm to the Muslim society and

fail to consider the aspiration of Indonesian

Muslims.

Based on the description above, this paper try to

answer the question on how the blocking of Voa-

Islam.com website was viewed through the

regulation and human rights perspective and whether

this act of blocking the website by the Indonesian

government with the Minister of Communication

and Informatics Regulation No. 19 of 2014 violate

the basic human rights to hold opinions and express

them freely.

This paper aims to assert that radicalism can

spread quickly through the media, especially online

media. Indonesian government through the authority

of the Ministry of Communication and Information

Technology has a responsibility to discipline and

block the site related to radicalism. By releasing the

Minister of Communication and Informatics

Regulation No. 19 of 2014 on controlling internet

websites containing negative contents, the

government try to prevents the spread of radicalism

that can sparks terrorism acts that recently happened

again in Indonesia. The government deemed the

content in Voa-Islam.com website can fueled

Islamic radicalism movement and enabled their

teachings through online media.

The main theory used to analyze the blocking of

Voa-Islam.com website is regulation theory by Gill

Branston and Roy Stafford in their book titled The

Media Student’s Book. This book discussed about

the reason on why regulate, which is related to

public safetyand the quality of media products. This

book also discussed about the historical background

of regulation which argued that knowledge is power

and has been acknowledged ever since. The ruling

authorities always try to keep the masses and the

people from ‘harmful knowledge’. It then talks

about deregulation and liberalisation which explains

the privatization and public sector monopoly in

broadcasting and telecommunication, ‘loosen’ the

regulation control, and ‘open’ the media market with

new license for broadcasting services. Lastly, the

book talks about the contemporary regulatory

environment which is related to the direct control by

the government, government delegation to the

independent law regulators, regulations/self-

regulation by the media producers, and law

framework as a control even though the one who is

in control is the ‘market power’ and audience

pressure.

This paper uses the methodology based on the

concept of Tanzhim, Tarikh, Huriyah, and

Kauniyah-Tajdid since radicalism is often related to

those concepts. The establishment of Islamic Sharia

Law is one of the goals of the Islamic radical

movement that caused a conflict with the

government. The call for Jihad is always encouraged

by the Islamic radical movement by using Quran

verses mentioning Jihad in order to gain freedom

from the control of the government. Radical Islamic

websites are also participating in disseminating the

idea of Islamic nation or Dawlah Islamiyah in

Indonesia, so the government needs to revise the

regulation to prevent this movement to spread

around.

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1.1 Tanzhim fi Hifz al-Ummah

There are five maqashid al-sharia which have been

stated by the scholars, namely: hifzh al-din, hifzh al-

nafs, hifzh al-‘aql, hifzh al-mal and hifzh al-nasl.

The five objectives of this Shari'a must be

maintained, by strengthening various aspects and

carrying out various preventive and repressive

efforts on the other, so that the maqashid is not lost

in the ever-changing life process.

According to the maqashid concept, that there is

a set of rules that have the properties of dharuriyah

(primary), hajjiyah (secondary), and tahsiniyah

(tertiary). If the dharuriyah is not achieved, then

human life will experience shock. If the hajjiyah is

not carried out, then this life will be a troublesome

thing. In the end, if the tahsiniyah does not

materialize, then human life will become something

that is not beautiful. So with the achievement of

maqashid al-sharia, according to the assumptions of

the scholars, life that is right and good and beautiful

or a maslahah life will be realized which is a life

marked by hasanah fi al-dunya and hasanah fi al-

akhirah reaching Ridho Allah.

Ibn Khaldun stated that human togetherness is

the main thing in fulfilling their lives, al-insan

madaniyun bi thabi'i. La budda is Min Al-ijtima

’Alladzi Huwa Al-Madinah fi Ishtilahihim Wa Hiya

Ma'na Al-Umran. From this aspect, developing

aspects of human culture in the fields of social,

political, economic and scientific. To preserve all

order and orderliness of mankind, rules are needed

so that life can run well according to existing rules.

The problem of Islamic radicalism has become

an actual hot topic in Indonesia and in the

international world. A number of terrorism acts such

as Bali bombing, JW Marriot Hotel bombing, and

the recently happened Kampung Melayu bombing

were deemed as the result of radical Islamic group’s

action. Many academics use different terms to call

these radical Islamic groups. Martin Van Bruinessen

for example, call these radical group as

fundamentalism. James Barr call this group as

radicalism group or revolutionary Islam. R. Hrair

Dekmejian, as cited by M. Imdadun Rahmat, uses

the term Islamic revivalism. Meanwhile Oliver Roy

called it as Islamism and Neo-Fundamentalism.

However, many call this group simply as Islamist.

According to Dekmeijan, from these terms

mentioned before, the term of fundamentalism,

revivalism and Islamism are often used in the

literature related to the contemporary Islamic

movements even though at the end, the West

conditioned the fundamentalism in the same group

of radicalism and terrorism.

Bernard Lewis stated that The Islamic umma had

a dual character. On the one hand it was a political

society-a chieftaincy which swifly grew into state

and than an empire; On the other it was a religious

community, founded by a prophet and ruled by his

deputy.

After escaping from western colonialism,

Muslims began to organize themselves in social

matters in their respective national countries. Then a

number of groups emerged, which can be divided

into three outlines, namely groups that separate

Islam and the state, groups that are oriented to the

universal values of Islamic teachings, groups that

want to implement Islam in full. In order not to fall

into exclusive attitudes, it is necessary to emphasize

the purpose of these groups namely hifzh al-ummah.

Tanzhim is relevant to the form of regulation that

refers to public safety to maintain order in society,

so that life will goes well in accordance with

existing rules. The government or Ulil Amri is given

the authority to make rules or regulations that must

be obeyed by the community, so that the quality of

media products does not violate the prescribed

regulatory content.

1.2 Tarikh

According to language, it comes from arrakha-

yuarrikhu-taarikhan which means knowing the

events of events and writing and compiling events.

While in terms of dates means events and events that

are passed by a nation. If the date is connected with

Islam, then it means the events and events passed by

the Islamic ummah. The benefits of studying the

history of the predecessors are for I’tibar (taking

lessons) as revealed in the letter of Yusuf verse 111,

"Indeed, in their stories there are teachings for

people who have reason. The Qur'an is not a

contrived story, but he justifies (the books)

beforehand and explains everything and as a guide

and mercy to the believers.

The relation between tarikh and historical

background lies in knowledge is a force that has

been recognized throughout history, so by knowing

the historical background of the regulation of the

media industry, the government can monitor and

protect the public from 'dangerous knowledge', one

of them is radicalism. This regulation theory can be

used as a reference for the blocking of negatively

charged internet sites.

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1.3 Hurriyah

According to Zainab Ridhwan, legislation which is

the legal basis in Islam has four main principles,

namely equality, freedom, justice, and social

integrity. Independence or freedom begins with the

release of feelings of devotion to other than Allah. In

addition, human freedom also occurs when it is free

from material influences or restraints. If it is so,

humans will easily use their freedom such as

freedom of worship or religion, freedom of thought

and opinion and so on.

Freedom or independence is a part of human

rights and covers various dimensions and activities.

Community life in an Islamic country is built on an

idea of benefit for all members of the community.

This benefit is realized when there is no restraint, let

alone seizing social rights and individual rights.

When the benefit is disrupted, either because of

violations committed by members of the community

or by the government and its apparatus, a collective

obligation (mandatory kifayah) arises to eliminate

the violation through the actions of amar ma'ruf

nahy munkar.

Freedom of association and assembly can occur

in any field, political, economic, social, cultural and

others. Islam justifies and allows for that reality,

with clear boundaries, namely for good and truth. As

mentioned in QS: Al-Maidah verse 2 and QS: At-

Taubah verse 71.

True independence starts with self-liberation

from the influence of lust and controls it under the

guidance of faith and common sense. Thus, freedom

is not absolute freedom, but freedom that is

responsible for God, for the safety and benefit of

human life on earth. The freedom consists of

freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of

expression, freedom to study and freedom to own

property.

Freedom (huriyah) in terms of deregulation and

liberalization emphasizes that regulations set by the

government or Ulil amri are not interpreted as

restraints on one's creativity or political goals. But to

make restrictions so that the freedom they have does

not violate existing regulations or regulations. All

layers of society are given the freedom which is

responsible to Allah SWT.

1.4 Kauniyah-Tajdid

The kauniah verse is a verse or sign that is

manifested around that created by Allah. These

verses are in the form of objects, events, events and

so on that exist in this world. Because this nature is

only able to be carried out by Allah with all its

unique systems and rules, it becomes a sign of the

greatness and majesty of its Creator.

The meaning of "at-tajdid" in some of the

hadiths of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam

is the same as the meaning of the language above,

which revolves around the meaning of the

resurrection, reviving and returning. In the hadith of

Abdullah bin Amru bin al-Ash Radhiyallahu anhu,

which means that actually the faith in the hearts of

one of you can be damaged as the clothes can be

damaged, then ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala that

He renew faith in your hearts.

Based on the concept of Kauniyah and The

Contemporary Regulatory Environment that what is

in the universe can only be carried out by God with

all its unique systems and rules. Therefore the

atmosphere of contemporary regulation must be in

line with Allah's rules, through the direct control by

government of renewal of regulations aimed at the

benefit of the people.

Based on the thought and phenomenon described

above, this paper will study the case of Voa-

Islam.com blocking by the Indonesian government

as it is deemed as one of the Islamic radical websites

and has a potential to trigger radicalism in Indonesia.

Voa-Islam.com founded in April 2009 in Bekasi,

Jawa Barat. This website operated officially in June

1, 2009. The background for founding this website is

based on the concern regarding the reality faced by

Muslim community, especially in Southeast Asia

who became more and more marginalized by

capitalism and Zionist movement who accused the

Muslim fighting and preaching Islam according to

the understanding of the best Islamic generation,

salafus sholeh (The Prophet, Tabiin generation, and

Tabiut Tabiin) with the label of extremist,

conservative, and fundamentalist. This website tried

to voice the needs of Islam and Muslim

communities. The founding of this website is based

on the interpretation compiled from Quran verses

Surah An Nahl: 125, Al Hujurat: 6, and Ash Shaff:

10-12.

The vision of Voa-Islam.com is:

- To become a trusted media that put

forward honesty and fairness professionally.

- To help realized the Muslim community

that recognizes its dignity and its role and

responsibilities in order to build a dignified

civilization.

The mission of Voa-Islam.com is:

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- To preach the da’wah of Al Haq

whenever, wherever, through whatever media.

- To increase the quality of human resources

and the capability of Muslim community realted to

communication and information technology.

- To build online da’wah as a form of

advocation on Muslim in Southeast Asia.

- To protect the unity of da’wah, sunnah,

and the struggle of all Muslim.

- To become a leading media in Indonesia

and Southeast Asia.

- To communicate balanced information

about the existence and the problem of Muslim

community in the world and particularly in

Southeast Asia.

The founding institution for this website is PT

Visi Media Veteran.

Pengurus Besar Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU)

through its cyber team and LTNNU released the list

of Islamic website deemed as radical, including

Voa-Islam.com which is listed at level 1. As cited in

www.dutaislam.com, PBNU categorized radical

Islamic website into several levels. Within the list,

there were no Shiite media, Liberal Islam media, or

deviant sect media included. The compiled radical

Islamic websites in the list reached 208 websites

divided into four levels and categorized into

affiliated web or true Wahabi web. These websites

were read by millions of viewers, but they need to be

vigilant of the incitement within the content. People

then was asked to be cautious of the compiled

Islamic website that contains racist comments,

Sinophobic, rebellious against the republic, and anti

government.

The Content in radical Islamic sites is trying to

attack kiai, ulama, NU and state symbols and

philosophies of the Indonesian state because it is

indeed anti-nationalism and likes to make violent

posts. There are those who are affiliated with ISIS

directly, to radical parties in Indonesia, there are also

those who under the guise of purifying Islam,

namely Wahabi.

However, after tracing not all the content of the

Voa-Islam.com site is negatively charged. Not a

little info-info related to the Islamic world both

nationally and internationally was discussed on the

site Voa-Islam.com. Even trying to respond to the

latest developments regarding conflicts and issues in

Muslim countries. This is where the dualism of the

meaning of both parties, namely the site owner and

the government, takes place. The owner of the site

Voa-Islam.com claims that this is an Islamic

missionary site, but the government considers Voa-

Islam.com a radical Islamic site that should be

watched out for. Muslims in Indonesia again get

unfair treatment by stakeholders. Starting from the

BNPT (National Counter-Terrorism Agency) and the

Ministry of Communication and Information, led by

Minister Rudiantara, it has coordinated to block

Islamic preaching sites in Indonesia. Several reasons

that emerged in the community, the da'wah site was

allegedly spreading radicalism. Letters of request for

site closure from BNPT spread on social networks

with number: 149 / K.BNPT / 3/2015 on radical sites

/ websites mention there are 19 (nineteen) sites

included in the list of sites for disseminating radical

ideas. If you see the information reported on the

official website of Kominfo.go there are more or 22

sites that are blocked.

The Ministry of Communication and Information

has also asked the internet service provider (ISP) to

block the 22 sites according to what the BNPT said

that the site / website is a site / website that drives

radicalism and / or radicalism sympathizers. This is

denied by the Islamic site, they stressed that when

searching and viewing content most of the sites

classified as sites of dissemination of radical ideas

above were very far from BNPT's allegations. Most

of these sites are Islamic propaganda sites,

especially if these sites are considered to have

contributed to spreading ISIS propaganda. Because

the majority of Islamic scholars and mass

organizations in Indonesia have agreed to the fatwas

of ulama in the world that ISIS ideology includes

Ghuluw / Radicalism. So if there are groups that

support ISIS in Indonesia, we can be sure that there

is only a small group. This means that BNPT's

allegations to most of the sites above are totally

wrong, because their understanding is very contrary

to ISIS.

The government's authority to block the Voa-

Islam.com site and others through the Ministry of

Communication and Information reaped strong

protests from various parties, who suspected the

Ministry of Communication and Informatics of

using the ISIS issue to silence Islamic preaching

through online media. Even though the blocking /

banning of Islamic sites actually violates the

freedom of the press, as stipulated in the Act No. 40

of 1999 article 4 which reads:

1. Freedom of the press is guaranteed as a

human right of citizens.

2. The national press is not subject to

censorship, banning or prohibition of broadcasting.

Blocking Voa-Islam.Com Website: An Appropriate Regulation or Human Rights Violation

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3. To guarantee press freedom, the national

press has the right to seek, obtain and disseminate

ideas and information.

4. In taking responsibility for reporting before

the law, journalists have a Refused Right.

However, the government refers to regulations

concerning handling negatively charged internet

sites as stipulated in the Minister of Communication

and Information Technology Regulation Number 19

of 2014 dated July 17, 2014.

2 ANALYSIST

1. Preventing Radicalism by Implementing the

Minister of Communication and Informatics

Regulation No.19 of 2014.

The phenomenon happening in Indonesia in

recent year regarding terrorism acts made the society

restless and concerned about the civil safety in

Indonesia. Some parties stated that terrorism act can

be caused by the developing radicalism that is

spreading in the society. According to the study

from many references, the term radicalism refers to

the violent movement that is taken by some groups

as a response to their displeasure on the politics and

socio-historical condition.

The understanding of Islamic radical groups is

usually totalistic and formalistic. Their

understanding of religious literature is rigid,

terrifying, and rejects every notion of reasoning in

religious field that they often damage and hinder

Islam form the dynamic of life, causing the

regression among Muslim society and paint Islam in

a bad way for the sake of religious purity.

Radicalism has massively spreading in society

with the advancement of internet and

communication technology and the popularity of

websites that has potential to spread the radical

view. Nowadays, online media has become easily

accessible for the society in every layer. Regulation

in Indonesia is still lacking in this department, the

proof is that it cannot regulate negative contents

from spreading around. For example, pornographic

contents are still accessible even though the

government claimed that they have blocked it. This

proves the lack of regulation implementation in

Indonesia, even more so since pornographic contents

and radicalism can caused a negative impact for the

generation. In comparison to the eight countries with

strict regulation such as Iran, China, Afghanistan,

Maroko, Burma, Kuba, South Korea and, United

Arab Emirates, the implementation of the regulation

in Indonesia is still relatively weak. The existing

regulations are not accompanied with heavy sanction

that can deter the violator.

Indonesia as a country with Muslim population,

the same with Iran, Maroko, and United Arab

Emirates, should be able to implement a stricter

regulation regarding internet usage. As discussed in

the theory of why regulate, there is a form of

regulation that is implemented referring to the public

safetyand to control the quality of media products

which is the websites containing negative contents.

Regulation implemented in the concept of maqashid

has the property of dharuriyah (primary).

2. Blocking Voa-Islam.com as Radical Islamic

Website.

According to Rubaidi, based on the context, in

Indonesia there exist two different Islamic radical

movements. First is the Islamic radical movement

that is still within true to their nature. Some of them

are Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), Tarbiyah-

Ikhwanul Muslimin, and the movement of Salafi-

Wahabi. Second is the Islamic radical movement

that has been undergoing a metamorphosis, even

though the basic ideology retains a similarity to the

Islamic radical transnational movement in Middle

East. Some of the examples are Front Pembela Islam

(FPI), Lasykar Jihad (LJ), Majelis Mujahidin

Indonesia (MMI) and many others.

The existence of said Islamic radical

movements started from the radicalism tenets spread

through the media, one of them is through online

media. As Voa-Islam.com got blocked because it

was deemed as one of the radical Islamic websites,

people questioned the blocking and the criteria on

what contributes as radicalism.The Ministry of

Communication and Information Technology stated

that the report to block Voa-Islam.com came from

BNPT. According to BNPT, the criteria for radical

Islamic website are:

1. Willing to use violence to initiate

changes quickly in the name of religion.

2. Takfiri or quick to blame other as an

infidel.

3. Support, spread, and invite people to join

ISIS/IS.

4. See the act of Jihad in a narrow and

limited sense.

According to those criteria, painting Voa-

Islam.com as a radical Islamic website is not

accurate. After observing the content in the website,

most of them generally highlights and criticized

issues surrounding Islam, delivering facts so that the

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report in media is more balanced. This is because

oftentimes, there is news that points the Muslim

community as bad, such as the airing of the movie

that paints Indonesian Muslim community as

intolerant to other religious group and got a bad

review and critics from Muslim clerics.

The Ministry of Communication and Information

Technology stated that the report to block the

website came from BNPT and they only relay the

report to the telecommunication providers to

implement the blockade. The Ministry employs a

system called Trust Positif that campaigns a healthy

and safe internet surfing and lists website containing

negative contents.

The contents that are deemed as negative by the

Ministry are pornographic content, racism, hate

speech, violence, fraud, gambling, sites with

malicious content, and copyright violation. Based on

the theory stating that the government always tried

to protect its citizen from ‘harmful knowledge’ in

the media, the case of Voa-Islam.com blocking can

be seen as protecting the citizen from radicalism

content. In Canada, Australia, and Japan, the public

news agency is controlled bystrict regulation and

their work is supervised. This concept goes along

with the concept of tarikh. In making a regulation or

Tanzhim, it is encouraged to refer to the phenomena,

event, aspiration, theme, or issue that becomes a

background for the regulation to be necessary. Also,

in trying to understand the content of Al-Quran, we

need to refer to Asbab al-Nuzul while to understand

the Hadith, we need to refer to Asbab al-Wurud. The

misunderstanding of the concept of Jihad came from

the interpretation of Quran verses and Hadith in a

rigid and literal way so that it deviates from the

intended message taught by Islam.

3. The Voa-Islam.com Blocking is a Violation of

Human Rights and the Freedom of Speech.

Voa-Islam.com blocking garnered protests and

critics from many sides, including the Indonesian

Ulama Council or Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI)

that regretted the action taken by the Ministry of

Communication and Information Technology. This

matter invites heavy reaction from the Muslim

community because it is a sensitive issue. According

to the Chairman of MUI, Zainut Tauhid, “This

action could invite pros and cons opinion even

though the reason behind it is to weed out radicalism

and terrorism.” This is because the Ministry hasn’t

released the explanation on what kind of criteria that

they consider as radicalism.

The action from BNPT and the Ministry in blocking

Islamic websites invites many critics. One of them is

from expert and lecturer of telecommunication,

Onno W. Purbo. As an activist of open source, he

valued the access for information as a part of human

rights that is protected by the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights (UDHR). This is a violation of

human rights by the Ministry because they blocked

some Islamic websites haphazardly without any

explanation. Purbo questioned the definition of right

from wrong, halal from haram, pornographic

content, and terrorism that was referred by the

government.

In the era or globalization and information

technology, Islamic da’wah channel faced a distinct

challenge to run their mission using online media.

On one hand, people sometimes misinterpret the

website doing da’wah as malicious. On the other

hand, the activity of da’wah needs certain creativity

to adapt to this era. Science and technology can help

the activity of da’wah to be more creative and

interesting. However, the da’wah needs to come

from a strong religious and empirical faith.

A similar opinion was also voiced by Harits Abu

Ulya, that the blocking of Islamic online media

which is Voa-Islam.com violates human rights. Voa-

Islam.com is a media of da’wah to disseminate

information about Islam. Voa-Islam.com blocking is

counterproductive to the rights of the citizen to

express their opinion or ideas. The government

should give an open space for the citizen to enable

civil control towards the media. The government

was also seen as anti critics by limiting its citizen to

their freedom of expression. This blockade reeks of

political interest proven by the premature argument

and showed the regime’s intellectual weakness to

face alternative media that criticized their policy and

can balance the report given by the mainstream

media.

Deregulation and Liberalization Theory gave

space to public media, giving an impact on the

‘loosening’ the regulation and ‘opening’ the media

market. Thus, the regulation made shouldn’t restrain

the society as long as they follow the existing rule.

Regulation can be reevaluated as long as it is for the

greater goodness of the nation.Freedom (Hurriyah)

is a core part of human rights. The freedom here is

not an absolute one, but a freedom with

responsibility to Allah SWT toward the benefit of all

people in the world. This is where regulation is

needed to control the life.

The Voa-Islam.com blocking case can be

considered as a violation of freedom of speech

guaranteed by the constitution and human rights on

one side. But on the other side, the government has

an authority to control and implement the regulation.

Then, the communication between the admin of

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Voa-Islam.com website and the Ministry need to be

encouraged so that the content that is considered

incompatible based on the regulation No.19 of 2014,

July 17, 2014 can be revised.

4. Mediation as a Solution to Evaluate the Ministry

Policy in Blocking Voa-Islam.com.

The case of Voa-Islam.com blocking has draw

people’s attention, especially Muslim community.

Not only because it is an Islamic online media, but

also to understand the mistake done by Voa-

Islam.com that got them blocked by the government.

Many are asking the question regarding the

definition of ‘radical’ that was used by the

government as a rationale to block the website. This

situation rose because the Ministry, without any

explanation beforehand, suddenly announced the

blockade. The blockade involved several institutions

such as BNPT and Densus 88.

After the communication between the Ministry

and the admin of Voa-Islam.com was done, the

access to the website has finally opened again after

the agreement was reached and the admin will revise

the restricted content. The mediation event that was

held at the office of the Ministry of Communication

and Information Technology in January 4, 2017

uncovered the fact that the blockade of these eleven

website is based on the report from NGOs and

Densus 88. Voa-Islam.com then only required to

delete 4 news that was deemed by the Ministry as

‘hot news’ regarding Densus 88, Ahok or Basuki

Tjahaja Purnama, and the Dutch Christendom that

enslave Indonesia. The chairman of Indonesian Press

Council, Yoseph Stanley Adi Prasetyo encouraged

the blocked website to register themselves to the

Press Council, completing the legal requirements,

and partaking in journalism training to develop the

capability of their journalist in journalistic

competency test. Answering that, Voa-Islam is

willing to do all of the above since they have been

contributing for 8 years towards the realization of

amar ma'ruf nahi munkar in Indonesia.

The result of this mediation is an implementation

of The Contemporary Regulatory Environment

theory regarding the type of regulation which is

direct control by government. The Ministry has done

an effort to communicate to reach an agreement in

contemporary regulation. Self-regulation by media

producers was also done by the admin of Voa-

Islam.com who agreed to revise the content based on

the regulation applied in Indonesia. This is in line

with the concept of kauniyah and tajdid in realizing

something in the form of regulation revision for the

greater good of the society.

3 CONCLUSIONS

Voa-Islam.com blocking was done according to the

Minister of Communication and Informatics

Regulation No.19 of 2014 on controlling internet

websites containing negative contents. According to

the regulation theory related to the reason behind

why regulate, it is because Voa-Islam.com was

deemed as radical Islamic website which the content

contains radicalism. Based on the historical

background, the spreading of radicalism through

online media has a systemic impact which is the

increasing number of terrorism act in Indonesia, thus

the government tried to prevent that by releasing the

regulation on website containing negative contents.

Deregulation and liberalisation which is the Voa-

Islam.com blocking was based on the regulation

No.19 of 2014 which resulted in the ITE Act No.19

of 2016. The blockade invites protest and critics from

several parties that see this act as a violation of

freedom of speech which is protected by human

rights and the constitution. The contemporary

regulatory environment gave many pros and cons

related to this blocking. For those with a pro opinion,

the step taken by the government was deemed

appropriate to prevent radicalism that has been

developing in the society. However, the cons side

heavily rejects the painting of Voa-Islam as radical

Islamic site because it only gave information about

the image of Islam to balance the news from

mainstream media. After holding mediation between

the Ministry and the admin of Voa-Islam.com, the

agreement was reached for the website to revise the

content especially regarding Densus 88, Ahok or

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, and the Dutch Christendom

that enslave Indonesia. From eleven blocked

websites, only five website agreed o revise the

content, including Voa-Islam.com. The revision of

these five websites is already suitable to the existing

regulation.

The implementation of the regulation No.19 of

2014 was done to protect the Indonesian people from

radicalism related to the concept of public safety as a

part of the responsibility of the Indonesian

government. Here, the role of the government to do

direct control to the media products such as Voa-

Islam.com website was exercised.

The urgency behind the blockade is to prevent

radicalism to spread in the society that can

potentially influence the mind which could result in

terrorism acts. Freedom of expression is indeed the

rights of the citizen, but it also has to conform to the

existing regulation so that the expression can be

accounted for. Muslim community as a majority

ICRI 2018 - International Conference Recent Innovation

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group in Indonesia needs to conform to the regulation

orTanzhim that has been set by Ulil Amri or the

government. The concept of Tarikh, Hurriyah and

Kauniyah-Tajdid becomes relevant with the case of

website blocking. History has wrote that the

establishment of Islamic Sharia law is one of the

main goals for Islamic radical movements that

created conflict with the government. The call for

Jihad becomes a symbol of freedom to express the

aspiration of the radical Islamic group by using

Quran verses related to Jihad. Radical Islamic

website also helped to spread the discourse to build

Islamic nation (Daulah Islamiyah) in Indonesia, so

the Indonesian government need to revise the

regulation to counter radicalism and to prevent

terrorism act that creates tension in Indonesia.

However, there is a shortfall in the act

implemented by the Ministry to block the website, in

which the blocking was not accompanied by any

explanation regarding the reason behind to the admin

of the website and to the society. This creates a

negative assumption that the act reeks of political

interest. Supposedly, the Ministry needs to hold a

public dialogue to communicate the reason

beforehand. Afterwards, the admin of the website can

clarify about the content that was deemed as negative

by the government. The communication was only

held after the case blew up, however, after the

content was revised, the blockade was lifted and

Voa-Islam.com can be accessed again.

The government realized the role of the media in

influencing the masses. Thus, the development of the

media in Indonesia needs to be considered greatly as

an anticipation to minimize negative impacts that can

threatens the nation. The admin of the website are

encouraged to do an evaluation regarding the content

contained within their site and the government should

be able to act objectively in evaluating the circulation

of the content in online media.

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