The Indonesian government rejected a controversial ministry regulation draft on multimedia content which had sparked protests from both journalists and online users, media reports said.

According to KOMPAS.com,
Minister for Communication and Information Tifatul Sembiring on 19 February 2010 said he will "erase it", acknowledging that it "threatens the freedom of the press in the country".

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself said during a cabinet plenary meeting on 18 February that the draft proved to be a sensitive issue that has caused debates among the public. He added that further consideration on the draft should be given.

The "Jakarta Globe" quoted MCI spokesman Gatot Dewa Broto as saying that the proposed regulation provides for a 30-member multimedia content team that "would act on public complaints about disturbing content, and would only order Internet service providers to block Web sites that it felt were displaying material already banned under Indonesian law".

Critics claimed the draft regulation is the government's knee-jerk reaction to recent publicized cases of Internet abuse.

The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) said in a statement that should this regulation takes effect, press freedom would be endangered, especially online content provided by news organizations. It added that the draft rules contradict Article 4 of Law Number 40 of 1999 on Press.

In a statement, AJI-Indonesia President Nezar Patria said that the Journalistic Ethical Code should be the sole means of press content regulation, either printed, broadcast or online. For broadcasting, the Code of Conduct of Indonesian Broadcasting and Indonesian Broadcasting Standard of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission should be used.