To develop Indonesia, with a total population of over 260 million, 17 thousand islands, and 80 thousand villages, cooperation of all stakeholders is needed.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny G. Plate affirmed that digital infrastructure development in Indonesia aims to support national interests, including during an emergency scenario.

"During an emergency situation, such as a riot, the government should be able to guarantee security for every citizen and restore normalcy in the situation again. Hence, I affirm that the government did not block Internet access but only reduced its speed. We did that to ensure civilian rights of citizens were also protected by the government," Plate said.

He made the statement when speaking at the Internet Governance Forum's Open Forum themed "Strengthening Digital Ecosystem for Better Digital Inclusion" held in Berlin, Germany, the Communication and Informatics Ministry noted in a statement here on Friday.

The minister spoke of the Indonesian government’s decision to block internet access during riots in response to a question raised by Nenna Nwakanma, an activist of Free Open Source Software.

In addition to the construction of physical infrastructure, such as roads, seaports, and airports, the Indonesian government has been developing telecommunication infrastructure, including the Palapa Ring fiber optic network, stretching 330 thousand kilometers long, 120 thousand Base Transceiver Station (BTS) towers, and five telecommunication stations. Three multifunction satellites will also then be developed.

"Cooperation of all stakeholders is needed to develop Indonesia, with a total population of more than 260 million, 17 thousand islands, and 80 thousand villages," he stated, adding that digital infrastructure is expected to also benefit people in remote areas.

Indonesia twice addressed the open forum of the IGF 2019, and two of its proposals were accepted by the forum, which received over 500 proposals from 131 participating countries.

The first open forum was themed “Strengthening Digital Ecosystem for Better Digital Inclusion”, while the second one bore the theme of “Strengthening Digital Transformation through Digital Security” held on Nov 28 in Berlin.

The Government of Germany hosted the 14th Annual Meeting of IGF in Berlin on Nov 25-29, 2019, under the overarching theme: One World. One Net. One Vision.

Related news: APEC pledges to advancing inclusion via digital transformation



Translator: Natisha A, Fardah
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2019