A
New Cyber Agency for Indonesia? - Indonesia stands on the cusp of setting up a cyber agency amid grown
threats
Indonesia has long debated whether it should set up a national cyber
agency in the wake of the rising threats in the cyber realm. Though momentum
had been built up for the establishment of the body into 2016, prospects had
since dimmed, with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo raising doubts about it last
September.
Of late though, the momentum has been swinging the other direction. Last
week, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs
General Wiranto indicated that the establishment of the body is all but
certain. Wiranto said that Jokowi had instructed him to set the agency up, and
that it could be completed as early as sometime this month.
The case
for establishing such a body is clear. Indonesia has long been one of the
world’s most vulnerable countries to cyber attacks, and the challenge has grown
at an alarming rate over the years (See: “Indonesia’s Cyber Challenge
Under Jokowi”). During the past few months, Indonesian officials
have been emphasizing the full spectrum of challenges that the country
confronts in the cyber realm, not just in terms of national security or
e-commerce but also in the distribution of so-called fake news and even
e-voting.
In terms
of implementation, Wiranto has said that the Indonesian government has already
taken preliminary steps towards the establishment of the national cyber agency,
such as conducting research as well as having meetings on what steps will be
required.
Other
voices have also been chiming in with their support for the move. Indonesia’s
police chief, Tito Karnavian, stressed the significance of the agency and
clarified that there would not be an overlap with how things are handled on the
law enforcement side. On the legislative side, Setya Novanto, the House
Speaker, and Abdul Kharis Almasyhari, an Indonesian lawmaker who oversees
foreign and defense affairs, have also spoken about the wisdom of the move.
Nonetheless,
there are still lingering questions about the new body as it moves closer to
realization. As I have emphasized before, there is no shortage of obstacles to
setting up a new agency, including bureaucratic competition, interagency
coordination, the lack of human resources, technology, and funding, and fears
among some about the erosion of freedoms. How some of these concerns will be
addressed will be interesting to watch if indeed we do witness the birth of an
Indonesian cyber agency.
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