Indonesian police raided Internet cafes Monday and rounded up dozens of students who were skipping school to play computer games or chat with their friends online.
The raids in the town of Bandung, West Java, came in response to complaints from parents and teachers about children missing classes to spend time on the Internet, an official said.
“We raided 23 Internet cafes and rounded up 89 students. Many were in their school uniforms,” Bandung city official Suparno told AFP.
“They should be in school during school hours but instead they were playing computer games, chatting online and checking their Facebook profiles.”
The students, aged mostly in their early teens, were given a slap on the wrist and sent back to school, he added.
“The students were shocked to see us. Some pleaded with us to let them go and promised never to play truant again,” Suparno said.
Internet cafes offer a low-cost connection to the Web for ordinary Indonesians who cannot afford their own computers.
Despite low wages and poor Internet infrastructure, Indonesians are among the world’s most dedicated users of social networking sites like Facebook.
The raids come amid domestic debate over how to balance freedom of speech and access to information with protecting society from Internet sites deemed to be indecent or inciting violence.
(AFP)
印尼警方週一臨檢網咖，結果查獲數十名蹺課來打線上遊戲或和朋友線上聊天的學生。
一名官員表示，這波針對西爪哇萬隆市的網咖臨檢，是因應家長和學校老師抱怨孩子蹺課去網咖上網而採取的行動。
萬隆市政府官員蘇帕諾對法新社說：「我們臨檢了二十三家網咖，查獲了八十九名學生。許多人還穿著學校制服。」
「上課時間應該待在學校，但他們卻在這裡玩電腦遊戲、線上聊天和查看臉書的個人檔案。」
他還說，這些大多十來歲出頭的學生被警方告誡一番後，便被送回學校。
蘇帕諾說：「這些學生看到我們都大吃一驚。有些人懇求我們放他們一馬，並保證再也不會蹺課了。」
印尼網咖上網費用低廉，提供買不起個人電腦的一般民眾上網的管道。
儘管印尼薪資水準低，又缺乏網路的基礎建設，但它卻是全球使用臉書等社交網站人口最多的國家之一。
這波臨檢行動發生之際，如何兼顧言論自由與資訊取得，又能保障社會不受色情或煽動暴力網站危害的議題，也在印尼國內持續發酵。（法新社╱翻譯：袁星塵）
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