Govt won’t restrict use of Telegram – Zahid
KUALA LUMPUR: The government does not intend to restrict the use of the Telegram application in Malaysia for now, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Although Indonesia has banned the use of the Telegram application due to the threat of terrorism, he said monitoring by the authorities so far found no elements related to crime or terrorism as as Telegram was concerned.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, insisted that the government respected the rights of consumers in the country and did not intend to interfere with the ‘chatting’ of users of Telegram.
“The KDN’s (Home Ministry’s) observation, especially by the Anti-Terrorism Unit and the Special Branch of the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), find that the application (Telegram) has so far not been used in matters related to crime or for recruiting or raising funds for terrorism activities,” he told reporters after attending an Aidilfitri Open House at Jakel Mal here, yesterday.
Ahmad Zahid was asked to comment on the Indonesian government’s action on Friday (July 14) to block the Telegram application following revelation that it was used to spread Daesh’s ideology for violent activities.
He said the government would continuously monitor the use of social media applications to detect activities which slanted towards terrorism.
Ahmad Zahid said the government also had some decoding methods to monitor methods used by Daesh for dissemination of its ideology, recruiting members and obtaining funds via social media or online communication platforms.
He said the monitoring of the authorities found that the spread of elements of violence through other applications such as YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram existed.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on Friday said it was preparing for the total closure of Telegram in Indonesia, where it has several million users, if it didn’t develop procedures to block unlawful content. As a partial measure, it asked internet companies in the world’s most populous Muslim nation to block access to 11 addresses offering the web version of Telegram.
Samuel Pangerapan, the director general of informatics applications at the ministry, said the app is used to recruit Indonesians into militant groups and to spread hate and methods for carrying out attacks including bomb making.
Suspected militants arrested by Indonesian police recently have told authorities that they communicated with each other via Telegram and received orders and directions to carry out attacks through the app, including from Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian with the Islamic State group in Syria accused of orchestrating several attacks in the past 18 months.
Indonesia’s measures against Telegram come as Southeast Asian nations are stepping up efforts to combat Islamic radicalism following the capture of the southern Philippine city of Marawi by IS-linked militants.
Nearly two months after the initial assault, Philippine forces are still battling to regain complete control of the city. Experts fear the southern Philippines could become a new base for the IS, including Indonesian and Malaysian militants returning from the Middle East, as an international coalition retakes territory held by the IS in Syria and Iraq.
But the government move sparked a public outcry in Indonesia, with Twitter and Facebook exploding with negative comments and some people reporting they were unable to access the web.telegram.org domain. Indonesians are among the world’s biggest users of social media.
The free messaging service can be used as a smartphone app and on computers through a web interface or desktop messenger. Its strong encryption has contributed to its popularity with those concerned about privacy and secure communications in the digital era but also attracted militant groups and other criminal elements.