D

espite intensified crackdowns on the illegal sale of pornographic films in the city’s hub of pirated film and music, Glodok, West Jakarta, all signs point to business as usual.

Customers don’t have to search deep inside the market to see how easy it is to get porn.

The Jakarta Post visited Glodok late last week and met Salim, a university student who said he could easily find pornographic DVDs even before he entered the first floor of the Glodok electronics market.

“The vendors will come to you and make their pitch regardless of whether you’re looking for porn,”
he said.

There were several empty stalls at the front of the building, but once the Post got deeper into the building, especially at the back of the first floor, stalls with pornographic DVDs abounded, with customers elbowing their way in before they could thumb through the massive collection.

“Do you want to buy some porn?” Joni (not his real name), a young vendor, said as the Post passed
his stall.

There were a lot of people like Joni in this section of Glodok, who could be found among the crowd selling pirated films and music, hustling his DVDs to male buyers.

“We used to sell them openly, but sometimes there is a police raid,” Joni said, adding that the last police raid was two days ago.

In recent weeks, the government has stepped up its clampdown on porn, including on the Internet.

Controversial Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring contributed to the prohibition effort by demanding content providers filter pornographic material on the Internet and through mobile services.

The crackdown has prompted vendors to be more cautious about their trade, although it has failed to stop them from opening their shops.

The only difference is that the price of pornographic DVDs has increased slightly.

“We have complete collections of pornographic DVDs, both local and foreign productions. But because of the raids, the price has increased from Rp 15,000 [US$ 1.7] to Rp 20,000 each,” a vendor said.

Late last year, pornographic DVDs sold for as low as Rp 5,000.

The price increase has not dissuaded porn buffs from getting their hands on the DVDs.

“I am just a regular guy who likes watching porn and Glodok is my favorite destination for buying pornographic DVDs,” Arman (not his real name) told the Post.

But with the government stepping up its drive against pornography, Arman does not always get his thrills from Glodok.

He now downloads porn on his cell phone.

“Through my cell phone I can watch porn anywhere and it’s more practical,” he said. He recently deleted pornographic movies from his cell phone, fearing his kids would see them.

It may seem that mobile services and the Internet are more likely to render Glodok’s porn market
obsolete.

Sodik, a customer at Glodok who spoke to the Post, said he would likely go home empty handed, as he had on his last two visits.

“I would rather see porn on the Internet because it is cheaper and easier to get. I can easily transfer it to other devices too,” he said. (rpt)