Porn bill drafted secretly

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 03/10/2006 7:40 AM

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Lawmakers drafting the controversial pornography bill plan to do it in secret away from the critical eye of the media at an undisclosed hotel in Puncak, some 60 kilometers south of Jakarta.

Members of the special committee are tasked with listing contentious issues before the bill is submitted to a joint House of Representatives-ministerial committee for further scrutiny.

On Thursday, they accused journalists of prejudging the bill.

Legislator Balkan Kaplale of the Democratic Party, who chairs the committee, said ""biased"" reporting on the legislation only added fuel to the controversy.

""The media tends to run stories favoring those opposing the bill. This is unfair,"" he said at a meeting with Muslim activists who support the draft law.

Legislator Chairunnisa of the Golkar Party said the special team would hear opinions from 10 major political factions about the draft law.

It will be the first time the House factions present their formal stances on the bill.

So far, the only party that openly supports the bill is the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

""Each faction is expected to submit a list of articles they deem contentious,"" Chairunnisa said.

The legislators are to discuss the detail of the bill from Friday to Sunday.

Next week, they are expected to produce a list of the contentious articles and submit it along with the bill to the government.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will then read the bill and appoint several Cabinet ministers to work with the legislators on redrafting it before it is submitted to the House for debate.

The President can reject the bill at this stage, sending it back to the initial House drafting team, although his approval is normally a formality.

Balkan has repeatedly said the bill will be passed into law by the end of June.

Burning issues in the bill include its vague definition of pornography, along with its prohibitions on kissing in public and nudity and eroticism in art.

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