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Plan to let S’pore centre host Indonesian data sparks concern

JAKARTA — A non-government organisation has filed criminal charges against State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno for authorising Indonesian communications provider Telkom to build a data centre in Singapore, which is partly owned by Singtel and would host Indonesian government data.

(From left to right) CEO Telin Singapore Septika Widyasrini, SOE Minister of Indonesia, M. Rini Soemarno, Senior Minister of State (Trade and Industry) Lee Yi Shyan (third from left), Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia to Singapore Ridwan Hassan, Telkom Group CEO Alex J. Sinaga during the Official Groundbreaking Ceremony of Telin Singapore Data Center and Telecommunication Hub in Jurong. Photo: The Jakarta Globe

(From left to right) CEO Telin Singapore Septika Widyasrini, SOE Minister of Indonesia, M. Rini Soemarno, Senior Minister of State (Trade and Industry) Lee Yi Shyan (third from left), Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia to Singapore Ridwan Hassan, Telkom Group CEO Alex J. Sinaga during the Official Groundbreaking Ceremony of Telin Singapore Data Center and Telecommunication Hub in Jurong. Photo: The Jakarta Globe

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JAKARTA — A non-government organisation has filed criminal charges against State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno for authorising Indonesian communications provider Telkom to build a data centre in Singapore, which is partly owned by Singtel and would host Indonesian government data.

In its report to the National Police in Jakarta on Wednesday, Indonesia Club, a watchdog group, said it had no issues with the data centre serving corporate clients, but that its proposed hosting of Indonesia’s e-government services violated state intelligence and electronic communications laws.

“What we’re reporting about is the sale of state secrets,” Mr Gigih Guntoro, director of the Indonesia Club, told reporters at the police headquarters in Jakarta. “What we question is the cooperation between Telkom and Singtel. In the context of business to business, it’s fine. But there are a lot of violations in this (joint venture).”

Telkom owns a 60 per cent stake in the joint venture, called Telecom Indonesia International Singapore, or Telin Singapore. The remainder is held by Singtel, Singapore’s biggest telecommunications company, whose majority shareholder is Temasek, a government-linked investment firm.

On June 5, Telin Singapore kicked off the construction of the US$115 million (S$153 million) Telin-3 data centre in Jurong, with Ms Soemarno present at the ceremony with Telkom’s CEO Alex Sinaga, who was also named in the Indonesia Club’s police report.

In a press release covering the event, which has been removed by Telkom from its website, the state-owned telecommunications firm made clear that the venture “is ready to work on (the) e-government market in Indonesia”.

The release, in a cached web page that Google dates June 14, said Ms Soemarno had met her Singapore Government counterpart to discuss the matter.

“In the meeting, (the) Singapore Government approves (the joint venture) because Singtel has been a partner in Telkomsel,” she was quoted as saying in the release.

Singtel holds a 35 per cent stake in Telkomsel, Indonesia’s biggest cellular operator, while Telkom controls the remainder.

Ms Soemarno said in the release that she believed the cooperation with Singtel to host Indonesia’s e-government services was the right thing to do as the Singaporean firm has more advanced technology and experience on the matter.

Mr Guntoro argued that allowing Singtel, which is majority-owned by a Singapore Government-linked company, to run a centre in the city state that would host vital data for the Indonesian government violated the 2013 State Intelligence Law and a 2012 government regulation on the operation of electronic systems and transactions.

The latter regulation stipulates that data servers for public services must be located in Indonesia.

There has been no statement from the Cabinet Secretariat that Telin Singapore’s server will host any of Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s planned e-government programmes.

Telkom, in a press release on Tuesday, said the data centre in Singapore would focus on “drawing revenue from corporate customers in Singapore”.

“It is expected that those (potential) clients can be offered mirroring of services to Indonesia, so that later, they can be served from Indonesia ... so Indonesia one day can become (an) international hub for Internet communications,” said the company.

Observers have echoed the Indonesia Club’s concerns about the joint venture in Singapore. Mr Nonot Harsono, a former member of the Indonesian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (BRTI), told the Jakarta Globe that e-government data would include government data, information and all state secrets.

“The data will be in Singapore and they can know everything about us, even details about Indonesia’s military. There’s a danger of data breach,” he said. He added that Indonesia already had sufficient data-centre capacity in the country to host e-government services.

Major players in the domestic data-centre market include Indonesia Comnets Plus, or ICON+, a subsidiary of state-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), which previously told the Jakarta Globe its data centres were not being fully utilised.

In the private sector, Supra Primatama Nusantara’s flagship Biznet service runs one of the biggest single data centres in the country south of Jakarta, the Biznet Technovillage Project.

Mr Sukamta (who goes by one name), a legislator in the House of Representatives’ oversight commission for telecommunications, defence and foreign affairs, warned of “a bigger chance of asymmetric warfare” if Singapore, with access to Indonesian government data, enters a conflict with its neighbour.

“The government should prioritise capitalising domestic technology use and use local programmers instead,” he said.

Mr Sukamta also questioned Mr Widodo’s integrity in protecting national security, and reminded him of a campaign promise last year to nurture the domestic IT industry. “Didn’t the President once say he could just call up programmers from across the country to develop the e-government programme and it would be done in just two weeks? Why are we now partnering Singtel?” THE JAKARTA GLOBE

CLARIFICATION: Telekomunikasi Indonesia International Pte Ltd (Telin Singapore) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (PT Telkom).

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