SEX IN DEPTH Indecent exposure in
Indonesia By William Sparrow
BANGKOK - Indonesia, with an estimated
population of over 230 million, is the world's
largest Muslim nation. As such, a morality debate
has intensified in recent years regarding access
to sexually explicit material, specifically as the
Internet becomes widely available. Perceptions of
so-called Western indulgence and moral decay have
alarmed many Indonesians.
In the
introduction to Jakarta Post journalist Maggie
Tiojakin's article "Sexual Evolution" it was
written, "The end of the repressive New Order
regime along with greater accessibility to
information in the cyber-age has opened the
floodgates of sexual experimentation in the past
decade. While not everybody is
doing
it, at
least they are talking about it."
Recently, Indonesian media have also
reported a number of scandals involving the
Internet distribution of pornographic photos of
local celebrities, including a Parliament member
and ordinary citizens caught in the act on camera.
The Indonesian government has been quick
to act, and this week announced a plan to outlaw
Internet pornography. Jakarta's campaign is the
latest of many developing nations which have
sought to curb the allegedly damaging effects of
"adult" pictures, videos and chatrooms.
On
March 25, the Indonesian government passed a law
banning the accessing and production of "immoral
content" on the Internet. The law, which will come
into effect on March 29, is one of the strictest
in the world regarding adult content: a person
found guilty faces six years in prison and a fine
of 1 billion rupiah (US$110,000).
In rapid
response, a group of hackers took over an
Indonesian government website for several hours to
protest against the new ban, the Information
Ministry said on Friday. According to an Agence
France Presse (AFP) report, "The protesters posted
a message Thursday on the Ministry of Information
website challenging it to 'prove that the law was
not drafted to cover the government's stupidity'.
"The message seemed to be directed at the
law that was just passed by Parliament," ministry
official Ferdinandus Setu told AFP, adding the
site was taken down for a period but is now back
to normal.
Interestingly, the law -
ostensibly aimed at protecting the moral virtue of
the young generation - coincides with another
government plan to extend free Internet to all
high schools in Indonesia. According to the plan's
proponents, the move will bring the country's
total number of Internet users to over 40 million.
There are additional plans to extend the free
Internet to even younger students.
Information Minister Muhammad Nuh said the
decision to censor porn sites was deliberately
taken in conjunction with the launch of the high
school Internet access campaign. According to Nuh,
an estimated 1 million locally produced
pornographic sites, as well as and all foreign
sites that stipulate a minimum age of 18 to enter,
would be blocked from March 29. He added that
"common sense will determine what is allowed and
what isn't. We have to protect the nation,
particularly the young generation."
Industry specific "blocking" software will
be made available from the Information Ministry
for download, officials said. For now the software
will operate from the user's computer, but there
are plans to explore blocking it at the Internet
Service Provider (ISP) level. David Burke,
executive vice president of Telkom, the largest
state telecommunications company, said blocking
access to specific sites for Indonesian broadband
users and those accessing the Internet through the
country's two main gateways should not be
difficult, but noted that there would be gaps.
"... Many Internet cafes obtain their
bandwidth from satellites, which is much harder to
control," said Burke. "So it's a huge job and
there will always be cracks. It will depend on how
much the government really wants to monitor and
police this."
Blocking "immoral content"
can be difficult. Australia for example, released
similar software last year for parents and schools
to use voluntarily. The project to create the
software cost the government 84 million Australian
dollars(US$77 million), but within an hour of
being released had been hacked with a work-around
by an Australian teenager.
In Thailand, at
the height of the Thaksin Shinawatra government
several years ago, it was rumored that "hundreds"
of students worked as police informants to
identify porn sites, which would then be blocked
by the ISPs. However, authorities seemed intent on
concentrating strictly on Thai pornography - or at
least Asian pornography - because Western
pornography remained fully accessible. Porn of all
flavors returned with the 2006 coup, as the
military took control of all ISPs, but now under
the new government seems to be returning.
Indonesia will now have its try. In the
Muslim country controversy over "pornography" is
certainly nothing new.
In April 2006,
Islamic extremists in Jakarta gave the publishers
of Playboy's new Indonesian edition a seven-day
ultimatum to pull it from shelves. Some violence,
a burned office and a few death threats later and
the publisher was forced to move his office to
Bali. Yet the Indonesian Playboy contained no nude
photos, not even partial or implied nudity. It
was, in fact, more like fashion model spreads with
attractive women. Nevertheless, the publisher was
charged with distributing and profiting from
indecent pictures. He was later exonerated.
Then, of course, there was the "Tiara
Lestar scandal" that ended the young model's
career amid angry howls in Indonesia. Lestar was
featured nude in Thai and Dutch editions of
Penthouse and Spanish Playboy. The images were
subsequently seen in Indonesia via the Internet
where they sparked outrage.
"This decision
certainly wasn't popular in my own country. Heck,
it was a huge disappointment for my parents, too.
I regret that part of it. For that, I am sorry ...
But being on the cover of Playboy can be
considered the peak of any model's career," Lestar
said in an interview last year. "However ... I
appeared in a country that does not consider
Playboy and nudity as taboo. My appearance was
never intended for consumption in Indonesia. My
pictures circulating on the Internet happened
without my being consulted. Not offending my
countrymen was one of the criteria of my
decision-making process in appearing in [them]."
Lestar, it seems, didn't know much about
the Internet or realize that the shots would
inevitably get circulated. One might say that
Lestar even agrees with the government: she
loathes Internet porn.
Meanwhile, as
Indonesia steps up its battle against online porn,
some government ministers and Islamic hardliners
seem to be overlooking the fact that Indonesia,
like most Southeast Asian nations, has a bustling
sex trade. From karaoke parlors, hostess clubs to
bars with working girls - what's on offer within
the sex trade is vast and diverse and caters to
foreigners and locals alike.
So, with all
this outcry and legislation against "indecency" -
even of the decidedly "soft core" variety, like
Playboy - one begins to wonder what the real
problem is. In the world's most populous Muslim
nation, it seems that gazing at scantily clad and
half-naked bar girls - and having sex with them -
is OK, but looking at pictures of people doing it
on the Internet is a legal issue that could land
you in jail.
William Sparrow has
been an occasional contributor to Asia Times
Online and now joins Asia Times Online with a
weekly column. Sparrow is editor in chief of
Asian Sex Gazette and has reported on sex in Asia for
over five years. To contact him send question or
comments to
Letters@atimes.com.
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