Former Minister of Education and Culture, Anies Baswedan, has stated\nthat the Indonesia Game Rating System (IGRS), launched by the Ministry\nof Communication and Digital Affairs, should be used by the government\nto protect children from exposure to negative digital game content.\nAccording to Anies, IGRS must not become a government tool to restrict\nchildren\u2019s rights but should instead be leveraged as an empowerment\ninstrument.<\/p>\n
\u201cGame ratings should serve as a tool to help parents build children\u2019s\nresilience by training them to be independent and capable of protecting\nthemselves, not as a censorship instrument for the government,\u201d said the\nJakarta Governor for the 2017-2022 period in a post on his X account\n@aniesbaswedan<\/span>\non Monday, 6 April 2026.<\/p>\n IGRS is a regulation providing guidelines for selecting games\nappropriate to children\u2019s ages. It was initiated in 2016 through the\nissuance of Minister of Communication and Informatics Regulation Number\n11 of 2016 on the Classification of Interactive Electronic Games.<\/p>\n During his time as Minister of Education and Culture from 2014 to\n2016, Anies said he was directly involved in discussions on drafting\nIGRS with the Minister of Communication and Informatics. The government\nthen mandated that all game products, both local and global, circulating\nin Indonesia be classified based on age groups: 3+, 7+, 13+, 15+, and\n18+.<\/p>\n This rule was reinforced in Presidential Regulation Number 19 of 2024\non the Acceleration of National Game Industry Development and Minister\nof Communication and Informatics Regulation Number 2 of 2024 on Game\nClassification.<\/p>\n Anies explained that there are two approaches to protecting children\nwhen interacting with digital content. The first is creating a sterile\nenvironment through censorship and blocking. The second is building\nimmunity in children and families, which he considers more impactful and\nsustainable.<\/p>\n He recommended that the government prioritise the resilience approach\nby collaborating with gaming communities. Even better, said Anies, if\nthe government allows gaming communities themselves to carry out\nactivities with government facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no need to pretend to know everything that is best for\nevery segment of society. Having authority does not automatically mean\nhaving knowledge,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n Discussions about IGRS have come under scrutiny from several gamers\non social media platform X. They have questioned the accuracy of IGRS\nage ratings for several game titles on the Steam platform. They assess\nthat the age ratings do not match the game\u2019s content.<\/p>\n Director of Digital Ecosystem Development at the Ministry of\nCommunication and Digital Affairs, Sonny Hendra Sudaryana, stated that\nthe ratings displayed on the Steam platform come from an internal\nmechanism based on self-declaration and have not undergone official\ngovernment verification processes. The Ministry will request\nclarification from Steam and conduct further discussions to ensure\ncompliance with national regulations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ratings circulating are not the result of official IGRS\nclassification. This has the potential to cause public misunderstanding,\nespecially regarding the age suitability of a game,\u201d said Sonny, quoted\nfrom Antara on Monday.<\/p>",
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