With the deliberation of the pornography bill nearing completion, two groups-- one favoring the bill and the other against -- rallied outside the House of Representatives on Thursday, fighting for lawmakers' ears.
Those against the bill said lawmakers would seriously undermine women's rights and violated the constitution if they endorsed it.
Vivi Widyawati of Civil Society Alliance said some provisions in the bill were too abstract to be workable. She was referring to an article which states pornography is any form of human product that can arrouse sexual desires or violate local sexual norms.
"How can you measure whether something is sexually arrousing or not. Will it be the women's fault, if men get arroused?," Vivi suggested.
Another activist, Estu of the Woman's Legal Aid Foundation, said the government must not regulate the individual actions, but instead should control the distribution of pornographic material.
"We must review the bill again because it is highly discriminatory of woman," she said.
Also at the rally, award winning writer Ayu Utami said that, if passed, the bill would have an impact on cultural maturity and limit public awareness.
"It will make people dumb, and that violates the constitution which stated that the government must develop the nation's intellectual life," she said, quoting a phrase from Indonesia's Constitution.
On the other side of the political divide, a group of people supporting the bill said that it could protect the younger generation from being corrupted by sexually explicit material.
They demanded the lawmakers pass the bill and force the media to stop airing pornographic content and to take more responsiblity in public education.
The rally went peacefully as the police managed to keep the protesters to their schedule. The pro movement was given the first opportunity to state their demands and followed by the bill protesters.
The pornography bill was first introduced to House of Representatives in Feb. 2006. The government deciding against enacting it as scheduled in September, because protests agains the bill had mounted across Indonesia, notably Bali.
Lawmakers involved in deliberations would complete all process before the House enters a recession period on Oct. 30.
Since then, many of civil society groups around the country had campaign against the bill. Regions voicing the strongest opposition have been Bali, Papua, Sumatera, and North Sulawesi were the regions that strongly oppose the bill.
Last week, a massive protest took place in Bali, with more than 5,000 attendees, including the wife of Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, rallying in Denpasar's main thoroughfares. (ast)
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