The Indonesian government's plan to block porn and violence websites is based on common sense, Communications and Information Minister Mohammad Nuh said.



"Nobody has reason to build a nation by disseminating pornography and violence. I think nobody will agree to such notion," Antara news agency Wednesday quoted the minister as saying.



According to a law passed recently by the Indonesian parliament, anybody found guilty of providing and using pornographic sites may face a maximum of three years in prison or a fine of up to 1 billion rupiah (about 100,000 U.S. dollars).



The law mostly dealt with bans on the dissemination of pornography and other such contents detrimental to the public through the Internet.



The government was resolved to block obscene sites in response to public calls on the government to minimize Internet users' access to adult content, the minister said in a press conference here on Tuesday.



"The aim is not to censor porn sites and the like but encourage the public to make optimum use of the Internet. Therefore, positive regulations banning the dissemination of pornography are needed," he said.



Earlier, the minister said the government planned to block all obscene sites starting April 1.



"Admittedly, the number of Internet users in Indonesia is relatively small, reaching around 25 million. But their number will skyrocket in May because we will provide special facilities to senior high schools across the country," he said.



The special facilities given free of charge would lead to a drastic increase in the number of Internet users, he added.



"The special facilities will double the number of Internet users to 50 million, which is relatively small, accounting for 25 percent of the Indonesian population. But it is 20 times as much as that of Singapore or even Malaysia," he said.



Source:Xinhua