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strong>March 28, Online

Following the establishment of the antipornography task force, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said that skirts with a hemline above the knee would be included in the working group’s definition of pornography, on which it would base its future work.

“We will arrange meetings with different stakeholders from the public to get input on how they understand pornography, and I’m sure that they will come up with different definitions [of pornography]. However, there must be a set of universal criteria to define something as pornographic, of which one will be when someone wears a skirt above the knee,” said Suryadharma Ali.

Your comments:

Does this law apply to women only or everyone? Seriously, what is the difference between wearing short skirts and wearing short shorts?

What about on the beach?

This ridiculous comedy show continues. If I wear shorts above my knees, will I be arrested by the religious police? To be fair, my legs are rather hairy and could be considered offensive by some.

Deedee S.
Tangerang, Banten

It’s sad to see everything reduced to the lowest level. Meanwhile, educated Indonesians just go about chasing branded goods at the mall as if none of this affects them.

When full-blown Indostan is in place, it will be too late for the educated to protest.

Mark Denesevich
New York

He is a failure as a minister and should have been fired long ago; however, bearing in mind the weakness of the President, this is just wishful thinking.

Walter John Gomm
Denpasar

Stop blaming the way women dress for dirty thoughts. Join us in 2012, and treat women as women, and not as sex objects.

David K.
Jakarta

Mr. Ali should rewrite Webster and other dictionary companies to have his new definition included. The House should also revise its psychological standards for Indonesian ministers. It has been stagnant since 300 AD.

Gregory Fence
Karawang, West Java

Why can’t the media and the government expose and focus more on children and women trafficking, forced prostitution and pedophiles?

I suspect that the victims here do not all wear miniskirts. The point here is that there are wolves around, and we should focus on cleaning up those dirty-minded exploiting evildoers. I have to ask whether the authorities in on it, too scared, or simply prefer to deal with softer targets?

Aysha
Jakarta

The government and Syuryadarma Ali have no right to force people to follow a particular faith. Islam is about liberty and not force.

People who force others to follow their faith are Communistic, not Islamic. Allah bless America, because people are not forced into anything — everyone has the freedom of faith, lifestyle and expression.

Abdul Latif
US

It’s hard to believe that anyone will take this miniskirt law seriously. Why is Indonesia tolerating such extremely conservative idiots? Women are not objects and Indonesian men have to learn to respect them and give them equal rights.

Philippe B.
Surakarta, Central Java