Transcript
A panel of judges at the Jakarta State Administrative Court has granted a lawsuit filed by civil society groups against the Communications and Information Ministry's decision to impose an internet blackout during several weeks of protests in Papua region.
At the time Indonesian officials said the blackout was necessary in some areas to stem the spread of fake news as unrest grew in Papua.
The court found the government had imposed the internet blackout without the prior declaration of a state of emergency as required by law.
The lawsuit was filed against the President Joko Widodo and the Ministry was launched by the Alliance of Independent Journalists, the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation and other groups.
The move to cut the internet in Papua had made it difficult for facts to be verified as deadly unrest developed from some of the protests.
Later it emerged that amongst the chaos, there'd been dozens of deaths related to rioting or violent attacks.
Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronika Koman says she's not aware of a ruling like this before
"This should be an example on the international level as well because internet shutdown has been used as a new tool in oppressing democracy in many countries."
But she says because of the internet cut down, the pro-inddpendence sentiment expressed during the Papuans' protests was muffled.
"The world didn't get to see how much West papuans want to be free from Indonesia. So that's one of the damage. The other damage is, because the uprising wasn't televised then the state could brutalise West Papuans in cracking down on the uprising."
Indonesia human rights researcher Andreas Harsono says an internet shutdown also took place in Jakarta in May last year during the protest against the general election result.
"The ruling will discourage the Indonesian President or other high ranking officials, including the military and the police, to either slow or shut down the internet in other provinces. West Papua and Papua provinces are two of Indonesia's 34 provinces where internet slow down is especially very common. The President and other cabinet members will think twice before asking for an internet shutdown. It should legally consult the parliament and should describe the limitation of the shutdown --geographically and chronologically."
Mr Harsono described the court's ruling as a landmark decision for internet freedom in Indonesia.
"The judges, I would argue, possibly learned from #GeorgeFloyd movement in the US. It is also reverberating in Indonesia, making many officials aware of the racism that black skin Papuans suffer in the two provinces as well as other parts of Indonesia just like African Americans get tired of in the US."
The all-female panel said any decision that limited the public's right to information should be taken in accordance with the law and not simply based on the government's discretion.
