Indonesia: Govt moves to block porn websites during Ramadan

Jakarta, 18 July (AKI) - Ahead of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the Communications and Information Ministry is conducting a massive operation against online pornography.

Minister Tifatul Sembiring said Wednesday that his office had recently shut down more than one million porn sites, which are all run from abroad, and was targeting more sites in the upcoming month.

"We will block more porn sites during Ramadan, though that doesn't mean that we will allow such sites to operate during the rest of the year," Tifatul told reporters at his office.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician revealed that there were around 2 billion websites providing pornographic content. He said public involvement in curbing online pornography was crucial.

"I invite people everywhere to inform us if they find any porn websites, so we can check on them. Online pornography is an industry and the producers always seem to find new ways of escaping detection,” he said. “Therefore, we are also developing skills to deal with them.”

Ramadan is due to start on Thursday in Indonesia.