Over the last few days, rumours have resurfaced that the online game PUBG, or Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds will be banned by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo).
A few online games are also speculated to be banned due to their violent content.
The Director-General of Applications and Informatics at the Ministry, Semuel Pangerapan, said that they are yet to make a decision about the online game. Both bodies held a discussion about the game on 26th March. The meeting was also attended by psychologists and e-Sports associations.
Semuel stated that the meeting did not solely discuss PUBG, but other violent games also. They plan to hold more intensive meetings with other institutions and game developers in the near future, for an in-depth study of the issue. At the same time, the MUI’s fatwa commission secretary, Asrorun Ni’am, said that the participants in Tuesday’s meeting have agreed to optimise the positive sides and reduce the negative aspects of online gaming.
“We have agreed to set restrictions for games causing negative impacts,” he adds. Asrul further said that restrictions will be applied for games containing pornography, gambling, deviant sexual behavior, and other things prohibited by religion or the law. Games like Spider Solitaire can still be played, though ?