Ministry to honour Baduy people's demand for internet blackout

Baduy people go about their lives in Kanekes village on Oct. 15, 2017. -Shutterstock/ Learnmoreandmore)

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): The Communications and Information Ministry has said it will honour a request from the indigenous Baduy people of Banten to cut off internet service in their core villages, as the community seeks to prevent the online world from having a "negative impact" on its youth.

"We will honour their wish to protect their tradition, values and local wisdom from the wave of modernisation,” the ministry’s director general for public information and communications, Usman Kansong, told The Jakarta Post on Monday (June 12).