US Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Suspects Care To Protect Human Rights Violations, DPR Asks The Government Not To Stay Silent

The PeduliLindung application is temporarily unable to download on the App Store. (Photo: doc. Kemenkominfo)

JAKARTA - Indonesia is one of the countries highlighted by the United States Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its annual report on human rights around the world.

In its report, the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the use of the PeduliLindung application made by the Indonesian government is a matter of concern because of the potential for arbitrary interference or violation of laws related to privacy, family, home, or correspondence.

This statement was made by the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs based on reports from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). However, the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not mention the name of the NGO. The NGO reported that PeduliLindung has access to store user privacy data.

In response to this, Member of Commission IX DPR RI Saleh Partaonan Daulay asked the government not to remain silent. Saleh said the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs' report against PeduliLindungi was a serious accusation.

"This accusation cannot be taken lightly. Moreover, the PeduliLindung application is allegedly storing people's data illegally and without permission," Saleh said in his statement, Friday, April 15.

Saleh urged the government to provide a complete explanation and answer the accusations made by the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Remembering that the PeduliLindung application does store user's personal data such as name, NIK, date of birth, to travel traces.

"Don't wait for this issue to be rolled out more widely abroad. The image of Indonesia as the largest democratic country in Asia must be maintained. Do not let the issue of human rights violations degrade Indonesia's position," said Saleh.

Furthermore, Saleh also emphasized that the government must meet with the NGO who reported the alleged violation of PeduliLindung's privacy to the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"In my opinion, the NGOs should be talked to. They should be discussed. At the same time, they will explain about the care to protect application. Although the name of the NGOs is not mentioned, the government should already know. Moreover, the NGOs in question are said to have written a letter of protest to the government. related to this," he added.

For information, PeduliLindung is an application developed by the government to track the spread of COVID-19 cases. The app asks users to share their location data on the go to map contact history browsing.

Seen on the official website hatilindungi.id, the government claims that personal confidentiality is very important. The data stored in the application is in an encrypted format and is claimed not to be shared with others.