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As the deadline looms for BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion to filter pornographic Web sites on its handsets, Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring on Sunday continued his threats against the company.

Tifatul repeated on his Twitter account that he would not hesitate to curb the popular smartphone’s services should RIM fail to meet the government’s Jan. 21 deadline.

This time Tifatul appealed to nationalism to build support against RIM for failing to block access to pornography on its BlackBerry devices.

“If there is nationalism in your heart, and should you want us to be a strong nation, I am certain a portion of you will agree to the points I have made here about RIM,” the minister tweeted.

“So far, it seems that RIM is dragging its feet in carrying out its commitment. As a nation, do we want to be treated like that?”

Another of his tweets was more direct. “We are not negotiating,” he said. “If RIM does not comply with the laws of Indonesia, then enough is enough!”

He also called on the Canadian company to establish local servers so that the government could monitor messages sent by the country’s more than two million BlackBerry users.

“We demand RIM build a server/repeater in Indonesia so that our law enforcers can conduct investigations against corruptors,” he said. “We want RIM to use as much Indonesian content as possible, particularly in regard to software. We want RIM to recruit Indonesian workers in a proportional manner.”

State-owned Telkomsel, which offers BlackBerry service, said it would comply with the country’s pornography laws.

Febriati Nadira, a spokeswoman for XL Axiata, said it was talking with the government to find the “best solution” to the matter.

Andy Sjarif, chief executive of Sitti, an Internet and online advertising developer, said if the government simply focused on the negative aspects of technology, it would overlook the many positives.

“Professionally, I benefit a lot from using my BlackBerry. It’s a shame that a technology that brings so much benefit is only regarded for its negative side.”

He said smartphones were used far more often for social networking than for viewing pornography.

“This is statistically proven,” he said.

“Easier access to social networking sites to kill time has taken over the habit of accessing porn sites for Internet users.”

Argo Cahyono, a public relations executive at an oil and gas firm, said he relied heavily on the BlackBerry’s push e-mail and Messenger features.

“It’s easy to coordinate internally to arrange a meeting, for example, no matter where we are since we communicate through a BlackBerry Messenger group,” he said.

Another avid user of the smartphone, Vina Posuma, said her device was a “super-duper help” in her job as a health care services executive, and that she would be devastated if the government imposed a ban on BlackBerry services.

“My job requires me to be really mobile,” she said.

“I couldn’t imagine if the e-mail service was shut down, which means I would have to be stationed in front of a computer.”

Vina said BlackBerrys were created to help make work easier for people, not to help them access pornography.