Caption: Chief Censor Steven Mala.
By MATTHEW VARI
Sunday, May 15, 2016 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)
PROPOSALS of a national internet filtering system were echoed by Chief Censor Steven Mala on Wednesday at the consultative workshop organized by Department of Communication and Information , Censorship Board, and Integrated Government Information System (IGIS) program.
He said the meet was aimed at addressing the concern not as government agencies, but more importantly, as parents of children in the country.
“We are here because we are parents or going to be parents sooner or later in life. ICT (Information Communication Technology) in the country is here and it is a good thing that is important to the development of the country, however, it also has its downsides,” the chief censor said.
“Ladies and gentlemen we have a big problem- our children are now being exposed to a lot of illicit material that they are being introduced to at a very early age.”
“Every month my office receives thousands of confiscated materials from the post office that are sex enhancement products- that is the type of mentality and society that we are now living in.”
He said everday on Facebook and social media platforms people are uploading links to sexual and pornographic sites.
“Every day when we go home we do not know what our children are accessing because they are in their bedrooms.”
“I can confidently say that although we say our children have access to internet to use it for their school assignments and other work, but I don’t think any parents have a computer at the lounge room so you can see them doing their studies,” he pointed out.
He said it was vital that censorship starts in the home environment where parents are aware of content consumption online by their children.
“As a government agency where we are responsible for regulating all and every video communication in the country- we also have that concern and we also know that we have a big problem.”
“That is why I have come up with an idea to develop a concept for us to filter the internet. And when I say we are going to filter the internet a lot of people misunderstand it.”
“They think that the chief censor is trying to restrict all our freedom of expression, freedom of information, and the freedom to entertainment.”
“I would like to state here that that is wrong. The government has mandated me as the guardian of morality in this country, but it doesn’t mean I will restrict all your freedoms under the constitution and that is not my and my office’s intension.”
Mala added the concept of a filtering system embarked by his office will be to ensure the reduction in the volume of illicit material coming through the communication system.
“You can express what you want in the social media or whatever medium you want to use which is your constitutional right. What we are only trying to do is reduce the level.”
“Some IT expert in the room might tell you it is impossible, I know it’s impossible but we can’t use that as an excuse not to do anything.”
“We have a country, culture and tradition- PNG is different from other countries with so much cultures and we must not let foreign influence destroy our rich culture.”
He concluded that as the chief censor, he will strive to restore respect society should have towards women.
“With all the access that to all these illicit material, I realized that we are losing respect for our women and not seeing them as partners, not as friends, as our sisters, we are already seeing them as sex objects.”
“Even advertising companies are using women to promote their products and if we do not do anything we will lose it.”
“So let’s at the same time think professionally but I would like us to think about the safety and protection of our children.”
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