Communications Minister highlights launch of script-based domains at ICANN87

Badung (ANTARA) – Communications and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid highlighted the importance of launching Nusantara script-based domains as a way to promote digital inclusion at the ICANN87 Annual General Meeting in Bali.

“For Indonesia, a country with hundreds of languages and a rich cultural heritage, this is a very important consideration,” the minister said in Badung on Monday.

The initiative to preserve local identity began with the introduction of regional-script domains in the national digital ecosystem.

In December 2025, PANDI and its partners launched a Bali-script second-level domain within the .id ecosystem.

Meutya said the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs and domain-name managers were continuing to expand universal acceptance to cover other regional scripts in Indonesia.

“Building on this initiative, PANDI is preparing further development involving the Sundanese, Javanese and Batak scripts, which are expected to be introduced at the welcome reception tonight,” she said.

Alongside the launch of script-based domains, Meutya outlined achievements in expanding equitable internet connectivity to increase public participation in the digital sphere, including in remote areas.

“At the beginning of 2026, our 4G coverage had reached 98.96 per cent of the population, while our Satria-1 satellite supports connectivity for more than 31,000 public-service facilities,” she said.

The government is accompanying this infrastructure expansion with firm action to tackle various forms of illegality and crime in the digital space.

She cited action taken by the Ministry in October 2026 against more than 4.2 million website items of content linked to illegal online gambling.

She said effective cyber enforcement was possible only through strong inter-agency coordination and the full support of the public.

“And this can only happen through cooperation between government agencies and, fundamentally, institutions as a whole, as well as public participation,” she said.

The meeting, organised by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Bali, brought together representatives of governments, businesses, technical experts and global civil society.

The international agenda focused on advancing work on internet security, expanding the Domain Name System (DNS) and strengthening global cooperation, in partnership with the Indonesian Internet Domain Name Administrator (PANDI).

PANDI President Isnawan Aslam said cultural and linguistic diversity was an inseparable part of Indonesia’s national identity and of building an inclusive internet ecosystem.

“With thousands of islands and hundreds of languages, diversity is part of our destiny,” he said.

Isnawan invited conference delegates to enjoy local hospitality and celebrate multilingual diversity at the official welcome event.

ICANN President and Chief Executive Kurtis Lindqvist also expressed appreciation for the active contribution of Indonesia’s internet community to the development of script-localisation work.

“I would also like to thank ICANN and the Indonesian internet community for their ongoing efforts to develop sector-wide script-localisation references, including for languages in Indonesia, Germany and England,” he said.

Lindqvist stressed that the meeting should be used to turn strategic policies into concrete operational programmes.

“We must now commit to turning those words into operational programmes and delivering on those decisions,” he said.