Jakarta. The police have denied that they had triggered the suspension of several Twitter accounts belonging to hardline Muslim group the Islamic Defenders Front, or FPI.

Twitter has blocked the accounts of firebrand cleric Rizieq Shihab (@syihabrizieq) and FPI’s leadership committee (@dpp_fpi) since Monday (16/01).

"Blocking Twitter accounts is not the police’s domain. The new ITE [Information and Electronic Transactions] Law is supposed to reduce the amount of provocative content online. But the authority to block social media accounts still belongs to the Communications Ministry," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said in Jakarta on Tuesday (17/01).

The police said they will act only if someone has broken the law.

"After an account is blocked, the case can go to court. We haven't reached that stage yet, but the suspended accounts are considered 'dangerous,'" Boy added.

Boy said the State Apparatus Ministry will soon approve the formation of a cyber crime directorate within the National Police.

The police are still waiting for President Joko Widodo to issue a regulation which will give law enforcers more authority to crack down on online crimes.