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House moves to soften porn bill amid divide
Dian Kuswandini , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 09/25/2008 10:04 AM | National
Responding to mounting public criticism, the House of Representatives has begun revising several contentious articles of the pornography bill, which is scheduled to be passed into law in October.
A legislator of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Agung Sasongko said a technical team, established to gather public input, had published a list of the most-criticized articles in the bill.
“Following pubic hearings in Jakarta, Ambon, Makassar and Banjarmasin on Sept. 18, the team found that the most-criticized articles include Articles 1, 4, 14, 21 and 22,” Agung told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Article 1 defines pornography as any sexual reference exhibited as a drawing, sketch, illustration, photograph, text, sound, moving picture, animation, cartoon, poetry, conversation or any other form of communication.
Article 4 regulates restrictions and limitations on pornographic materials and services, while Article 14 concerns the use of sexual materials in traditional rituals and art and culture. Articles 21 and 22 stipulate the public’s involvement in undertaking preventive measures against pornography.
“The working group for the bill is currently deliberating on the changes both to the articles’ substances and grammatical structures,” said Agung, a legislator of the House’s Commission VIII overseeing religions, social affairs and women’s empowerment.
A member of the working group, Irsyad Sudiro of the Golkar Party, said the group expected to significantly alter the bill.
“In general, the bill would not violate human rights, or criminalize or discriminate against women,” he said.
Agung said the working group had involved in the deliberations linguists and representatives from the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office.
“Linguists will ensure the editorial of the bill will not mislead public perception, while law enforcers will help decide how strict actions against violators can be carried out,” he said.
The PDI-P and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), which previously disagreed on the bill and walked out of the deliberation process, have rejoined talks following the latest revision proposals.
The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which has firmly supported the bill, said the changes should focus on containing the porn industry, which it said was on the rise.
“The new draft should also not deconstruct local and national cultural products and their characteristics,” PKS faction chairman Mahfudz Siddiq said.
“The bill would allow access to use pornographic materials for educational purposes, that will be regulated further,” he added.
Ali Mochtar Ngabalin of the Crescent Star Party (PBB) said he guaranteed the bill would protect and respect local values and traditions.
“We have plenty of time to give chances to the public to deliver their criticism and input. We will accept all input with open minds,” he said as quoted by Antara.
Despite mounting pressure to cancel the bill, Ngabalin said he was optimistic the bill would be passed into law during a plenary meeting scheduled for Oct. 14.
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Ayuna (not verified) — Wed, 10/29/2008 - 10:02am
I will not vote for next year's election..nothing is right anymore about this country !
Anastasia (not verified) — Mon, 09/29/2008 - 5:30pm
Great!! Of all the problems this country is facing, our 'socially responsible' parliament chose to attack this issue first. It's no wonder porn industry is on the rise! Most Indonesian women and children who are not being educated enough are the prime source for porn industry workers and while our almighty parliament is debating whether they should stop frequent the Kota club they love so much or whether they should pretend that they don't use their oh so expensive laptop to download disgusting porns, more Indonesian women and children are being forced to enter the industry merely to put food in their mouth. Instead of wasting more time and taxpayer money debating about this useless bill, they should spend time improving the level of education, skills and work ethics of Indonesia workers so that Indonesians can be recognized for their skills and ability and not their sexuality! Seriously we need parliament member with working brains and proper logic instead of these nonsense idiots who only know how to cash traveller's checks!
Rahadi widodo (not verified) — Sun, 09/28/2008 - 9:04am
Indonesia already has a porn bill!! can you see blue movies on TV? can you go to a magazine shop and buy nude magazines? of course you cant!
Stop wasting tax payers money on stuff that exists!!! you are owned by the tax payer so implement corruption legislation! Stop fundamentalism and stop being so naive!
R.Astari (not verified) — Sat, 09/27/2008 - 8:01pm
My oh, my. Why won't they stop playing Gods to this already messed-up country? Haven't they done enough already???!!!
Puji (not verified) — Fri, 09/26/2008 - 5:56pm
As far as I'm concerned, Porn Bill equals Gender Unequalisation.
Bule amsterdam (not verified) — Fri, 09/26/2008 - 11:22am
YEAH good plan , let's make porn illegal and get all the prostitutes, so that young girls have need to have guards to take them to school. My point of view .. now, when there is porn and prostitutes, people who don't have a wife or are a bit sexually frustrated, can take a prostitute home or have a wank looking at a porn movie , if that's gone ,there will be a lot of more women raped ... good plan Mr Ustad and Pak Haji .. and you other hypocrites who go to the prostitutions every now and then , legalize prostitution and ganya , HELLO is 2008 you backward people.. i am sorry but it really makes me angry , and if one gets 5 years f
Iwan2 (not verified) — Fri, 09/26/2008 - 10:07am
The revised version is not greatly different than the initial. Yes localized cultural norms will be accepted/respected in Manado, Bali, NTT and Papua. However, these norms cannot be shown on indonesia wide television; which will obviously limit artistic expression and public accessibility then we come to defining cultural norms? therefore ladies two piece swimsuits will be illegal in hotels throughout Indonesia and possibly Bali as they are not cultural norms. Kissing in public which is to show affection may pass in bali; however, is it a cultural norm?? and it will not be allowed in the rest of indonesia.
After a number of years of the bill in force, bereft of nationwide coverage, television censorships and the general public will not be better and it is here that we will see social separation commencing.
The tourist industry will remain in Bali as for the rest of Indonesia; the slide has already commenced with FPI halal and haram patrols being reported widely.
I can only hope that common sense can prevail and the real issues affecting the population be addressed instead of perverted version of moral control.
The law in its current form prevents the sale of pornography and it is here that the police need to enforce the current statutes.
Y. Paseng (not verified) — Fri, 09/26/2008 - 2:45am
This is ridiculous! what Indonesia needs is a good education system, good justice system not another law that regulates people's behavior.
Jon (not verified) — Thu, 09/25/2008 - 8:30pm
The main problem with the porn bill is that it is completly unclear what is consider pornographic and what is not. To make a law you need very clear description in the law to be used in a court of law. if it is to unclear you cant used it in court. The defender could always say he didnt know that what he did was wrong and how does the court prove him wrong if its not clearly descript what is consider as wrong. The problem is that the DPR members pushing for the bill arent honest, as they know that if they start to tell what they see as pornographic that it couldnt be accepted by the indonesian people.
Now as a good citizen of this country how do you know how your wife should dress, to be on the safe side do you make her wear a burga? Tell everyone the clear guidelines of the law its the only way for this law to become legal.
Erwin Ermez Eriollah (not verified) — Thu, 09/25/2008 - 6:59pm
In my opinion, this bill is yet another distraction created by the government so that the masses temporarily overlook other greater concerns and waste their time arguing with each other.