Indonesia passes anti-porn bill
Updated
To other news now and a hotly debated anti-pornography law finally passed in Indonesia even though the government remains divided.
Several law-makers walked out yesterday, before the law was passed. Islamic groups have praised the decision but human rights observers says the law could divide communities and gives too much moral authority to civil society groups.
Presenter: Katie Hamann
Speakers: Lia Amelia, student; Budiary, Indonesian Ulema Council head of information and media commission; Eva Sundari, member of the Democratic Party of Struggle; Rotua Valentina Sagala is the Executive Director of the Women's Institute in Bandung
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KATIE HAMANN: Defending their beliefs in Jakarta's crushing midday heat, these young students, wearing head-scarfs, long-sleeved shirts and floor-length skirts, were perfect pin-up girls for Indonesia's vocal anti-pornography movement.
LIA AMELIA: Because today in Indonesia particularly, there are so many, you know, victims of the pornography issue - prostitution, and free sex.
KATIE HAMANN: And late yesterday afternoon, their commitment was rewarded with the announcement that their bill had finally passed into law. First drafted in 1999, the pornography bill was defeated in 2006 and remained dormant until August this year when Islamic parties touted it as a Ramadan present from the Government. It failed then too but succeeded yesterday after nearly two months of negotiations. One of the bill's staunchest advocates, the Indonesian Ulema Council or MUI expressed relief at its passage. "We waited a long time for this" said Said Buidary, the Council's Head of Information and Media Commission, adding that the MUI had initiated the bill because pornography is endangering the morality of Indonesia's youth. Recent revisions of the law saw its purview of cultural and artistic expression curbed and the axing of some regulations on dress, such as the wearing of bikinis at holiday resorts. But critics say the definitions of what constitutes pornography are still too vague. Eva Sundari is a member of the Democratic Party of Struggle and one of the law-makers who refused to participate in the vote.
EVA SUNDARI: I have already noticed that actually, there is something wrong with the paradigm. Especially when the pornography is a part of the problem of morality, not criminal acts. So, this wrong paradigm somehow - instead of regulating the pornography itself - it regulates the body of women. We also notice that in the existing draft, there are no clear positions to give protections for children.
KATIE HAMANN: Of concern also is the provision allowing civil society groups to take unspecified action against pornography offenders. Sundari says this plays directly to the vigilantism of hard-line groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front, who led a violent attack against a peaceful multi-faith demonstration in July.
EVA SUNDARI: The definition itself, and courage of these groups to establish what they are doing right now, to push and impose their views of other groups, and the civil society is allowed to do necessary actions to stop and also to demolish under protections of pornography.
KATIE HAMANN: There is concern also that the bill will be subject to more extreme interpretations at the local level. Rotua Valentina Sagala is the executive director of the Women's Institute in Bandung.
ROTUA VALENTINA: It really gives the possibility of the local government to issue the local regulation that's going to criminalise women's to criminalise women's lives in the name of pornography.
KATIE HAMANN: Just how civil society groups and provincial leaders interpret the law remains to be seen. Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must sign the bill before it comes into effect, but this is seen as a formality and lawmakers say there are already groups planning independent action against alleged pornographers. There is speculation, too, that the timing and urgency of the bill's passage is indicative of the increasing importance of Islamic parties in the business of political alliances and endorsements ahead of next year's Presidential elections. In Jakarta this is Katie Hamann for Connect Asia.
