Anies Baswedan: IGRS Should Serve as an Empowerment Tool
Former Minister of Education and Culture, Anies Baswedan, has stated that the Indonesia Game Rating System (IGRS), launched by the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, should be used by the government to protect children from exposure to negative digital game content. According to Anies, IGRS must not become a government tool to restrict children’s rights but should instead be leveraged as an empowerment instrument.
“Game ratings should serve as a tool to help parents build children’s resilience by training them to be independent and capable of protecting themselves, not as a censorship instrument for the government,” said the Jakarta Governor for the 2017-2022 period in a post on his X account @aniesbaswedan on Monday, 6 April 2026.
IGRS is a regulation providing guidelines for selecting games appropriate to children’s ages. It was initiated in 2016 through the issuance of Minister of Communication and Informatics Regulation Number 11 of 2016 on the Classification of Interactive Electronic Games.
During his time as Minister of Education and Culture from 2014 to 2016, Anies said he was directly involved in discussions on drafting IGRS with the Minister of Communication and Informatics. The government then mandated that all game products, both local and global, circulating in Indonesia be classified based on age groups: 3+, 7+, 13+, 15+, and 18+.
This rule was reinforced in Presidential Regulation Number 19 of 2024 on the Acceleration of National Game Industry Development and Minister of Communication and Informatics Regulation Number 2 of 2024 on Game Classification.
Anies explained that there are two approaches to protecting children when interacting with digital content. The first is creating a sterile environment through censorship and blocking. The second is building immunity in children and families, which he considers more impactful and sustainable.
He recommended that the government prioritise the resilience approach by collaborating with gaming communities. Even better, said Anies, if the government allows gaming communities themselves to carry out activities with government facilities.
“There is no need to pretend to know everything that is best for every segment of society. Having authority does not automatically mean having knowledge,” he stated.
Discussions about IGRS have come under scrutiny from several gamers on social media platform X. They have questioned the accuracy of IGRS age ratings for several game titles on the Steam platform. They assess that the age ratings do not match the game’s content.
Director of Digital Ecosystem Development at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, Sonny Hendra Sudaryana, stated that the ratings displayed on the Steam platform come from an internal mechanism based on self-declaration and have not undergone official government verification processes. The Ministry will request clarification from Steam and conduct further discussions to ensure compliance with national regulations.
“The ratings circulating are not the result of official IGRS classification. This has the potential to cause public misunderstanding, especially regarding the age suitability of a game,” said Sonny, quoted from Antara on Monday.