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(Indonesia) Porn cocktail leaves a bitter taste
I like the al guardian lurid tittle...A bill that would ban 'obscene public acts' such as sunbathing has provoked angry protests, writes John Aglionby Indonesia's burgeoning conservative Islamic movement, which had been on a fairly steep upward trajectory over the last few years, has encountered its first significant roadblock. How the situation is resolved is likely to shape socio-political dynamics for the next few years in the world's most-populous but largely moderate Muslim nation. Causing ructions is not some aspect of theology, but an attempt to enact a wide-ranging anti-pornography bill. The legislation has sparked such a vehement backlash that its proponents, the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and a slew of Muslim organisations, are having to beat a somewhat undignified retreat. By Indonesian standards, where building consensus and not causing loss of face are fundamental social tenets and few people outside a liberal minority dare challenge the Islamic establishment, the strength of feeling is almost unprecedented. The opposition is a motley coalition of women's rights groups, representatives from minority religions, the tourism industry, press freedom activists, the arts community and defenders of traditional culture. None of them dispute that pornography is so widely available in Indonesia's mainstream media it needs to be reined in somehow. There are, for example, few western countries that would show a posse of secondary school students watching a porn film in mid-afternoon and becoming so aroused they pair off couple by couple to go and have sex. Yet this scene appeared recently on an Indonesian soap opera. The fact that it was broadcast in the evening means little in a country where few children go to bed before 9pm. WTF?!?!?!? Some of the bill's opponents argue that it is not more legislation that is needed, but better enforcement of existing regulations. Some newspapers, for instance, openly advertise massages that leave nothing to the imagination, and the police make virtually no attempt to clamp down on the numerous pirated porn film street vendors. Many more secular politicians and activists say the bill's supporters are not really interested in the legislation per se but more in being seen to be doing something about pornography to burnish their Islamic credentials. As evidence, they point to the fact that the bill's definition of pornography is so vague it does not clearly differentiate between pornography, obscenity and eroticism. But the biggest gripe is with the articles on what is known locally as pornoaksi, or pornographic actions. These, the opposition argue, massively curtail individuals' rights, and particularly those of women. The bill states not only that anyone engaging in obscene public acts such as spouses kissing, women showing their navels and people sunbathing could be arrested, but it also says that anyone has the right to detain the offenders. Some traditional dancing, such as the hip-gyrating that often accompanies the folk-pop dangdut music and is hugely popular with the lower classes, would also be branded as pornographic, as would visual art and performances depicting people not fully clothed and some local costumes, from Javanese outfits where women bare their shoulders to those of Papuans who wear nothing but a penis sheath. Women's groups say women are targeted unfairly, artists say the bill would kill off their profession and almost everyone on Bali is so fearful that their economy would collapse that even the provincial governor has seriously raised the possibility of the resort island seceding from Indonesia if the legislation is passed. Thousands-strong demonstrations demanding the bill be revised or even dropped have outnumbered the pro-legislation rallies. The complaints are hitting home. The vice president, Jusuf Kalla, yesterday tried to reassure the Balinese by saying that the government does not support everything in the bill. Members of the parliamentary committee hearing civil society views on the bill have told Guardian Unlimited that virtually all of the pornoaksi articles have been withdrawn, and the two largest parties in parliament, Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, are in rare agreement that the bill needs major revisions. Resolution of the crisis is, however, nowhere in sight. Parliament goes into recess next week for a month and weeks of hearings are scheduled after that. The bill's advocates are expected to use that time to drum up support from across the country. It is doubtful it will do them any good though. A more likely outcome is that parties like PKS, which soared from 2% of the vote in the 1999 general election to 9% in 2004, will have to modify its Islam-dominated message even further than it has already if it wants to become a really significant national political force. Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-03-22 |
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