Proposed anti-porn law divides Indonesia

JAKARTA: A beauty queen in a full-length evening gown is enough to make Abu Mohammed Jibril’s blood boil.

Those bare arms and uncovered head. That cleavage. And don’t get him started on the swimsuit portion of the show.

Miss Universe is disgusting pornography to the deputy head of Indonesia’s Mujahedin Council.

“It’s destructive,” he said of the contest that airs here. “Miss Universe is very famous, so Muslim mothers want their daughters to be like Miss Universe and copy what they’ve seen. “So all of these things, like Miss Universe, fashion shows, are degrading morality. They’re all porn. A Muslim woman should not let her hair be seen by other people.”

Jibril’s council hopes a proposed anti-pornography law would put an end to what it sees as Western depravity. But religious and cultural minorities, artists, teachers and other opponents warn the bill, which supporters hope will come up for a vote in parliament this week, threatens free expression in Indonesia.

The Muslim council is headed by Abu Bakar Bashir, who has been accused of being the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Southeast Asia, a claim he denies. Still, his council shares Al Qaeda’s disdain for what Bashir and his followers consider Western moral pollution.

When worshipers answered the call to prayer at a Jakarta mosque on a recent afternoon, one young man arrived wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

Jibril sat for an interview on a green prayer rug, behind the same wooden lectern he uses for sermons. Vilifying immoral dress, loose sex and other trends he sees as signs of social decay, he paused only for an occasional question – and to answer the male voice reciting a verse from the Quran, which is his cell phone’s ring tone.

Indonesia’s long debate over the anti-porn bill, which has gone through many revisions, is dividing a nation founded on a series of principles that include “Unity in Diversity.” The Muslim majority has long been known for respecting the rights of religious minorities. Although this is the most populous Muslim nation, women more commonly wear Western fashions than heads carves.

The proposed law casts a broad net for purveyors of smut. It defines porn as sexual material that includes photographs, cartoons, films, poems, vocalization, conversations and body gestures in the media, or in public shows, exhibits or performances.

Those that “arouse sexual propensity, desires or longings” or “contravene community ethics, decency or morality” would be criminal acts if the bill becomes law.

Producers of obscene material, which would include depictions of unorthodox sexual acts, child pornography, sexual violence, masturbation and what is described vaguely as “allusions to nudity,” would face as long as 15 years in prison or a maximum fine equivalent to $1.5 million.

Distributors of porn, which also would include what the bill’s drafters call racy advertising, could be sentenced to a maximum three-year prison term or a $500,000 fine.

Backers of the bill’s provisions against the sexual exploitation of children, Internet porn and other, more conventional measures against indecency decry what they consider the overkill of the measure’s more aggressive elements. The loudest opposition comes from the resort island of Bali, where Hindus are a majority and Western tourists exposing skin is routine.

On Saturday, several thousand protesters came to Bali to rally against the bill, which opponents say is a threat to minority cultures.

Bali Gov Made Mangku Pastika raised objections to the bill in a letter this month to President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono and the speaker of the House of Representatives.

Jibril discounts the governor’s objections, which he says are to be expected from the leader of the province.

Jibril doubts the bill will pass because, he said, the government is a cabal of liars intent on prolonging the debate to manipulate voters. In the end, the politicians will side with minorities and Muslims will give up on peaceful protest, he said in what sounded like a veiled threat.

”There will be time when Muslims are tired of holding (mass protests) and then something unwanted can happen,” he warned.—Dawn/LA Times-Washington Post News Service