“Yes, it was me. I received an email, and there was a link, but it turned out to be one of those movies,” the clearly embarrassed legislator desperately defended himself before journalists after photographers caught him red-handed watching a porn clip on his tablet computer while attending a House plenary session on Thursday.

Arifinto, who serves in the House of Representatives’ Commission V on transportation affairs, said that he was caught on camera. He even said the incident was intentionally engineered by certain parties to tarnish his image and that of his party.

“I am afraid I was photographed as a trap against me aimed at killing [my political career] although I never saw the clip,” Arifinto said.

However, the photographer who captured the moment insisted he had strong evidence that Arifinto, a legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), intentionally searched for the porn clip and did not stumble upon it by accident as Arifinto insists. He also denied he was part of a plot against the politician.

The photographer recounted that the legislator was sitting in the left wing at the back row of the House. He said he saw Arifinto select a porn clip from a folder on his tablet.

“I have the proof at my office. The video was not from an email [as claimed]. He took two minutes selecting the one-minute clip,” Media Indonesia photographer Muhammad Irfan said.

The fact that Arifinto watched the video during a House plenary session is adding to the scandal, which is growing, as evidenced by the increased interest in the topic on Twitter on Friday and the many jokes making the rounds hinting at the irony in the legis-lator’s behavior, given his party affiliations.

Arifinto’s party aggressively supported the highly controversial anti-pornography bill, which was passed into law in 2008 despite widespread protests from artists, pluralists and human rights groups.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring, the former leader of the PKS, blocked porn sites and threatened to ban RIM’s BlackBerry from Indonesia unless it blocked access to porn sites.

Liberal Islamic activist Muhamad Guntur Romli posted on Twitter that “Arifinto watched a porn clip as he thought it was a religious film because the actors were moaning ‘oh my God’. Arifinto is very devoted, so is his party.”

PKS legislator Nasir Djamil said the incident should be handled by the House Honorary Council. “There are binding ethics, especially during a plenary meeting,” he was quoted as saying by news portal kompas.com.

PKS secretary-general Anis Matta recently claimed his party was a target of political attacks and said he believed more attacks lay ahead.

He said the attacks intensified after the PKS backed a failed proposal to set up a special legislative inquiry into graft at the tax office.

In a second blow to the party and to Anis himself, PKS founder Yusuf Supendi claimed Anis embezzled Rp 10 billion, filing a report with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Yusuf also accused PKS chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq of slander. The two politicians have strongly denied Yusuf’s accusations.

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