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ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship Country Event Contextualisation Ministerial Regulation Number 5/2020 on Private Electronic System Operators (MR 5/2020) The regulation gives the Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCI) broad powers to block and restrict access to online content deemed inappropriate or harmful, without clearly defining the criteria or procedures for determining what constitutes a violation. New Criminal Code (Law No. 1 of 2023) The New Criminal Code stipulates harsh penalties for speech-related offenses including the dissemination of false information, insults, defamation, and the promotion of abortion. Presidential Instruction No. 1/PNPS/1965 on the Abuse and Defamation of Religion This legislation has been used to incorporate a provision on blasphemy into the penal code. It stipulates penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment for individuals who deliberately and publicly exhibit sentiments or actions that are derogatory, disrespectful, or offensive towards a religion embraced in Indonesia, with the aim of dissuading others from adhering to any faith centered on belief in the One God. Law on Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE Law) Despite the Indonesian government’s effort to revise the ITE Law, several problematic articles, including those concerning defamation, hate speech, and false news, have systematically hindered the fundamental right to freedom of expression and have silenced advocates for human rights. INDONESIA Fig. 2.3B: Contextualisation for Indonesia’s timeline, 2020-2023. Various indices suggest the rise of digital dictatorship in Indonesia in recent years. Freedom on the Net ranked Indonesia “partly free” with an aggregate score of 48/100 in 2021, score of 49/100 in 2022 and a score of 47/100 in 2023.47 Indonesia placed 117th out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ 2022 World Press Freedom Index, with a score of 49.27 and placed 108th out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ 2023 World Press Freedom Index, with a score of 54.83.48 Digital Space & Online Freedom Status (Freedom on The Net) 49 49 48 125 47 40 100 30 75 Index Score Index Score 50 Media & Press Freedom (World Press Freedom Index) 20 117 113 108 50 25 10 0 119 2020 2021 2022 2023 0 2020 2021 2022 2023 Year Year Freedom House, Explore the Map, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/explore-the-map?type=fiw&year=2023 Reporters sans frontières, Classement, (n.d.), available at: https://rsf.org/fr/classement Fig. 2.4: Digital Space & Online Freedom Status (Freedom on The Net) and Media & Press Freedom (World Press Freedom Index) Ratings for Indonesia over the years, 2020-2023. 86 Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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English

Topic

Digital Rights
Digital Surveillance
Information Operation
Internet Restrictions

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MANUSHYA

Date Published: Mar 8, 2024

Abstract: Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024 Whether we like it or not, we are living through a pivotal moment for the future of human rights. This includes the issue of our digital rights, and the question of our online freedoms. In places like Southeast Asia, where the majority of its peoples are experiencing immense threats to their online and offline freedoms, at the hands of opportunistic governments and corporations, this is especially prevalent. The digital space has become an integral part of human life, and is still growing in its influence over our world. Accordingly, if our freedoms in the digital space are endangered, our freedoms overall are endangered as well.

It is understandable to feel powerless while possessing this knowledge. But it is not enough to just know about the forces acting against our human rights, and understand that they are dangerous. If we truly want to create a safer, more equitable, more liberated world - which we all know, deep down, is possible - we must understand these forces, and act accordingly. We must equip ourselves with knowledge about what governments, corporations, and other powers that be are doing, alongside demanding our rights to freedom. The powers that be have weaponised the online and digital space, as well as the law, against the people that these things are supposed to serve and protect. It is our right to protect ourselves with research, knowledge, advocacy, and the power of the people. When we understand the powers we are up against, fighting back will become less daunting.

This is what our report, titled Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia, is for. Join us in powering ourselves with knowledge, in order to compel ourselves to action!

As always, our work is rooted in decolonial, feminist, intersectional values, with historically marginalised people at the centre. Thus, this work was a collaboration between a coalition of groups oriented in these values: ALTSEAN-Burma, Cambodian Center for Human Rights, ELSAM, Free Expression Myanmar, Foundation for Media Alternatives, ILGA Asia, Manushya Foundation, The Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, SAFEnet, Viet Tan, and Women’s Peace Network. What is the ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship? The ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship was established in 2020, by human rights and digital rights activists from Southeast Asia, on a mission to decolonize digital rights and restore our online democracies.

Together, we stand in solidarity with one another, with people from the Global Majority, resisting and pushing back against authoritarian governments and complicit tech companies.

We tell our realities from the ground, and we develop solutions together.

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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