Pornography law passed today

The DPR legalised the bill this afternoon, October 30th.
Only two fractions, the PDS (Partai Damai Sejahtera) and the PDI-P of Megawati walked out the room in sign of opposition.
Even if the law has been passed we can reasonnably hope that it won't affect Bali.

Here is a few links I found:

Bahasa Indonesia:
http://www.partaidamaisejahtera.com/...p?news_id=1461

http://www.elshinta.com/v2003a/readnews.htm?id=59891

http://www.dpr.go.id/artikel/terkini...l.php?aid=5361

http://www.kompas.com/read/xml/2008/....UU.Pornografi

English:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/as...417330298.html

http://news.id.msn.com/regional/arti...mentid=1757259


For those who are interested, here is a link proposing a translation of the bill (credit to Purba Negoro).
However, take it with a pinch of salt, because the translation date from September and some articles of the bill in the final version may have been modified. However, it should give an idea about what it is about to non indonesian speakers:
http://www.indonesiamatters.com/2474/porn-laws/
 

Roy

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Nov 5, 2002
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I found this link from The Jakarta Post to be most informative, especially the comments already posted, mostly by Indonesians.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/10/30/house-passes-controversial-antiporn-bill.html

There was little doubt this watered downed bill would pass once it received some major party support, which was a political trade off.

From what I’ve heard, this bill will be subject to Provincial interpretation and enforcement at the Provincial level. In Bali, that largely means, “what bill?”

No doubt the world press will pick up on this, and push their coverage to mean that bikini beach ware is no longer allowed on Bali’s beaches, and paintings of nude or semi-nude women or men will be disallowed, and even worse, a head line like…"Bali presses on towards Sharia Law"…but this will all be over reaction by the press.

Unfortunately, the seeds of this bill were initially cast by a group whose opinions of the “moral fiber” of Indonesia should be dictated by the few, and not the majority. Indeed, as the original draft was offered to the MPR some years ago, it was precisely that. Some aspects of this bill, specifically as it relates to child pornography, is to be applauded, and hopefully embraced by all.

In Bali, there will be NO changes as a result of this bill. In Irian, men will still wear their koteka, and with no fear of being arrested.

What will be interesting though, at least from where I sit, is what, if anything, happens with all those great ads on Indo TV! :D
 

mimpimanis

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Nov 4, 2003
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www.mimpimanis.com
Most of the links didnt work for me and on those that did I couldnt find anything about bikinis etc. Though I know Bali is likely to be excluded I have to wonder how Lombok will be effected if at all....
 

BaliLife

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Mar 27, 2007
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Doesn't seem to make any explicit prohibition of prostitution or did I miss that? It did talk a lot about public 'porn' acts, and while it indicated that it would be illegal to sell sex, it didn't suggest it'd be illegal to pay for sex, or did it?

Ct
 

BaliLife

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Mar 27, 2007
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With the exception of the child pornography sections that were included, it seems to me to be a primitive law passed to appease religious nut-jobs. It protects nothing but rather imposes moral values upon a society. And these moral values are preached but rarely observed by the very ones that cry out for them - I.e. The practicing religious groups. Why was there no ban imposed on polygamy? Isn't that a more valid issue than the explicit prohibition of homosexual intercourse, when that homosexual intercourse may very well and in all liklihood is occurring between 2 consenting adults? Little to me is different between the indonesian and and iranian governments at this point in time.

Ct
 

SG

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Apr 17, 2007
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I was talking with a friend of mine today who has been heavily involved in the fight against this (I won't mention his name) and he told me that is exactly the way the opponents across Indonesia plan to fight this..to internationalise it through the global media.

He also believes that anything emanating from Jakarta..cable TV, net etc will be subject to strict overview which will likely mean the loss of many cable channels. I guess we will see.
 

SG

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Apr 17, 2007
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Bert Vierstra said:
According to a Dutch (online) newspaper, Governor Pastika will not apply the "Anti-Porn" law in Bali, since it not fits in with its culture.

http://www.nu.nl/news/1816595/24/Bali_w ... oeren.html

But so much we get in Bali comes from Jakarta. I want my internet social networking sites and You Tube sites and there are moves to ban these. I want my Indovision channels. I want my magazines and many of these come from Jakarta importers. And I want to be able to go the movies and bookshops when I go to Jakarta as I do at least once a month, and view the sorts of things I can view in any civilized nation.

Pastika can only ignore this law at a local level.
 

SteffandShaz

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Nov 16, 2006
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I'll be watching with great interest to see if Bali is allowed to ignore this law indefinitely or whether the local interpretation and policing will eventully be hammered home to all of Indonesia.

Cheers
Shaz
 

irish

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Nov 1, 2008
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Is indonesia trying to stop, discourage, prevent westerners coming to Bali?

I cant understand why they want to go backwards in this world.

Although it will be great when they catch and jail the sicko sex tourists coming over and preying on the little kids.

But as for thinking about investing in the island, I'm now cautious, I've put it off for the time being. I will be coming over for a month for meetings soon, but now I'm going to have to wait for a year before doing anything.

I dont want to invest in an indonesian version of Iran/somalia.

You have to look at the overall picture, fear of village police, young gangs harrasing women, loss of tourism dollars, feeling of looking over your shoulder all the time.

I know the people in dubai got jailed as they were having sex on the beach, I know thats wrong, but Jail.... is Bali taking this approach, and the law makers are using a religion to cover up and have their own way so other politicans are fearful for voicing their concerns about the country that employs them. It just seems head staggering.

If bali and indonesia heads down the hardcore, extremist way, then it will be the last westener out can close the door.

Hopefully other politicans can sort something out............ sorry if I offended anyone, I understand islam is a very good religion, you can be proud of that, and I love the indonesian people, its just I think there are better ways a developing country could operate and move forward in the world.

I look forward to my trip to jakarta etc.
 

Roy

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Nov 5, 2002
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I also share the concerns you raise SG…particularly when it comes to the internet and the cable channels on Indovision. You are right that insofar as those media are controlled outside of Bali, we could well see some effects from this bill. With no pun intended, I guess all we can do is stay tuned. Cheers!
 
Roy said:
This is how CNN is covering the story. Note the direct reference to bikinis:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/30/indonesia.pornography.ap/index.html

I read with a lot of interest the CNN link and the reference to bikinis. CNN offers quality information but it does not surprise me that from time to time journalists don't really research the veracity of their information. The UU Pornografi born in late 2005 and went through various draft in 2006, 2007 and 2008 (they are all public, if one want a copy of it -bahasa indonesia- i'll be glad to pint at ressources). Even if the Pornography law is a big joke to my opinion, no draft of it went as far as ridiculing itself by mentionning bikinis or even making a direct reference to it.
However the "bikini" controversy born from the definition it gives of the pornography and this is where the DPR argued may be the most. The last draft, in its article 1 said:

"Pornografi adalah materi seksualitas yang dibuat oleh manusia dalam bentuk gambar, sketsa, ilustrasi, foto, tulisan, suara, bunyi, gambar bergerak, animasi, kartun, syair, percakapan, gerak tubuh, atau bentuk pesan komunikasi lain melalui berbagai bentuk media komunikasi dan/atau pertunjukan di muka umum, yang dapat membangkitkan hasrat seksual dan/atau melanggar nilai-nilai kesusilaan dalam masyarakat."

If one read the last part of it it means that "any public performance that could generate sexual desire and/or violte the values of morality in the community" is deemed pornography. Hence the "bikini" controversy because with such a large and subjective definition, they could becomme illegal in tortuous mind. Such a wide definition includes a lot of things if you think about and is indeed highly subjective It is why there was such a public outcry because a law should not let such a big part to subjectivity.
Obviously there was no mention of bikinis in any draft. A law, and it includes Indonesia, must be a minimum serious in its writting.
Early October, a spokesman of the DPR said that was "dramatic changes maid to the bill" and that "the porn bill will treat recreational and leisure areas differently"
Now I hope that the law which has been accepted and endorsed by the DPR is watching their nice words of early October. The law is not yet publicised and therefore it is hard to know if the article that I quoted has been modify to something less general.

An interesting and well documented link (bahasa indonesia) about the controversy and interpretation of the law:
http://www.tempo.co.id/hg/hukum/2008/09 ... 39,id.html
 

BaliLife

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Mar 27, 2007
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Some people get arroused by looking at a woman's hands, others, their lips, some their feet and one guy I know, their underarms.. The bill looks like it was created by an imam with 4 wives, who makes them wear the hejab - the type of guy who masturbates over his 6 year old niece but is "much respected" in his community.. Decent people do not need to push their beliefs onto others..

Ct
 

Roy

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Nov 5, 2002
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The UU Pornografi born in late 2005

I believe you will find that first drafts of this bill go back to 1999 or 2000...about that time. With that said, I'm not 100% sure that the word "bikini" ever appeared in those early drafts, but the intention that they would be disallowed in those early drafts was quite obvious.

Of more import though is the fact that back in 2005 when this bill was re-visited, cries from Bali interpreting it to mean that bikinis would no longer be allowed on Bali’s beaches was not addressed, or refuted by the re-drafters of the original proposed legislation.