TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Jakarta DJ faces pornography charges over COVID-19 bikini protest
Dinar Candy was seen in footage widely shared on social media standing by the side of a Jakarta road holding a sign which said she was stressed by Indonesia's extension of movement restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Change Size
Jakarta-based DJ Dinar Candy was charged with pornography law after staging a protest against COVID-19 emergency cutbs. (The Jakarta Post/Instagram/Dinar Candy)
T
he Jakarta Police have charged a DJ with violating the country's controversial pornography law after the 28-year-old staged a street protest against COVID-19 movement curbs dressed in a mask and red two-piece bikini earlier this week.
Dinar Candy, who is also a popular Instagram celebrity, was seen in footage widely shared on social media standing by the side of a Jakarta road holding a sign which said she was stressed by Indonesia's extension of movement restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
"Her actions did not heed cultural and religious norms," Sr. Comr. Azis Andriansyah, the South Jakarta Police Chief told Kompas TV on Thursday. She had not been detained, Azis added.
South Jakarta Police and Dinar Candy did not respond to requests for comment. Dinar Candy's lawyer, Acong Latief, told Reuters her actions may have been motivated by stress.
The controversial pornography law carries a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment or a 5 billion rupiah ($350,000) fine.
Indonesia has since July been battling a devastating second wave of COVID-19 infections driven by the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus. This week, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo extended social distancing measures until August 9.
Read also: 100,000 and counting: Delta-fueled deaths reach grim record
The country passed a grim milestoneof over 100,000 deaths on Wednesday.
Maidina Rahmawati, a researcher at the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), a Jakarta-based legal activist group, said Dinar Candy's stunt should be understood as a protest, not pornography.
"This is very dangerous and could lead to arbitrary and excessive enforcement, or over-criminalization," she said.
