Tunas Komdigi: Dehumanisation and Digital Sovereignty at Our Fingertips

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Through the Tunas Komdigi Programme (Government Regulation No. 17 of 2025) on the Governance of Electronic System Administration in Child Protection, the state is present to protect children from exposure to negative and dangerous content in the digital space. This government step aims to create a safer and more conducive digital ecosystem for children. In the past, the internet was hailed as a ‘garden of knowledge’ for democracy and a haven of knowledge. The public imagined the internet as a cyberspace where everyone could freely harvest the fruit of informative wisdom. But the facts tell a different story. The digital space has lost its educative value as a forum of knowledge. Some of it has been looted for a ‘giant casino’ arena, without control. Some has also transformed into a social laboratory, where algorithms work more intimately in our children’s social interactions. Yet the destructive effects are more devastating than narcotics addiction. Digital transformation is characterised by the application of e-government, which should bring tangible benefits. It should drive service efficiency — faster, cheaper, and more transparent — but without safeguards, a form of collective negligence. Therefore, strengthening regulation must not stop at administrative ceremonies; it must be a declaration of open war against digital anarchy already at a nadir. The numbers enclosure: The numbers: The numbers The numbers: Entering early 2026, internet penetration in Indonesia reached 82.3 percent. This means more than 231 million people are connected within a virtual ecosystem. Mass connectivity can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, its presence supports the digital economy; on the other, it is like planting a social time bomb with a short fuse. It could explode at any moment. Recent reports show that the escalation of cybercrime is increasingly alarming. In the past year, Komdigi has blocked more than 3.5 million online gambling sites. The accumulation of online gambling transactions throughout 2024-2025 even surpassed Rp600 trillion. The figure is quite fantastic, where public money flows into the pockets of international operators, untaxed and without benefits, leaving only structural poverty. The victims are widening, from junior high school pupils to housewives. They are caught in cycles of virtual gambling and illegal online lending.