Ever since the Pokemon GO craze swept Indonesia (even though the game hasn’t been officially released here yet), it has been met with a couple of fatwas and even concerns from top government officials who say that the game could potentially security breaches in Indonesia, considering it encourages players to explore their surroundings while collecting GPS and photo data (read: unknowingly become spies for Nintendo).
While some ridiculed the notion, those officials might have felt vindicated over news that a Frenchman entered an Indonesian military complex while searching for virtual monsters in Pokemon GO.
But now, Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara has stepped in to assure the public that there is no need to suspect Pokemon GO of all sorts of conspiracy theories as it doesn’t actually pose a threat to national security.
“I met with Google in Jakarta yesterday. This game is made by a company (Niantic) that was part of them (Google) and uses Google Maps’ data as its basis. That’s why I asked them not to include sensitive vital national locations inside [the game],” Rudiantara said on Monday, as quoted by Kompas.
Rudiantara added that he asked Google to focus on spreading Pokemon around more “productive” locations such as parks, museums, and tourism spots in order to encourage people to explore areas that are safe.
In addition, he said that Pokemon GO is not to blame if people harm themselves while playing the game.
“Pokemon GO is just like all other games. If someone plays it while driving and gets into an accident while looking for Pokemon, that’s the player’s fault. Even before this game there was already a ban on driving while using the phone,” he said.
