Southeast Asia: News, Culture, Voices
Pornography Bill Stirs Controversy in Indonesia
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JAKARTA, Indonesia — Close to 16 million Indonesians are expected to leave the country’s cities this week in a mass exodus to their hometowns in order to celebrate Idul Fitri and the end of the Ramadan month. But this year, they will be hitting the roads as a broad national debate over a controversial anti-pornography bill continues to rage from the local communities of Bali to the streets of Jakarta…
Interview with Baby Jim Aditya: Porn Bill Targets Women, Could Affect Sex Education
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Hardline groups had pushed to pass the Porn Bill by the end of Ramadan, but a coalition of cultural activists, artists and women rights group have put pressure on the government to include more discussion about the controversial legislation before a vote. Among other things, the bill features an expansive view of pornography – one that would outlaw any form of “communicative message” that threatens the “normative values of society.”
The government now promises to hold forums – in Maluku, South Sulawesi, South Kalimantan and Jakarta – before voting on the bill.
I sat down with Baby Jim Aditya this week to discuss her views of the bill. Aditya is the founder and project director for Partisipasi Kemanusiaan, a group that works with Jakarta’s prison population. She has been doing HIV/AIDs education with sex workers and other high risk groups since the early 1990s.
Listen to Aditya speak about how the bill targets women (0:49).
Listen to Aditya speak about how the bill could affect sex education in Indonesia. (1:30)
House of Reps Closer to Passing Bill That Could Limit Artwork, Expression
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The Jakarta Post reports today that the House of Representatives has moved closer to passing the “porn bill.” The bill could severely restrict artwork, photographs, animation – even conversations – that are seen as pornographic or leading to “the violation of normative values within society.” (Quotes are from a text of the bill obtained by the Jakarta Post.)
Members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights protest the proposed bill in Bali (Ni Komang Arviani / The Jakarta Post)
How does the proposed law define pornography?
Article 1 reads: “Pornography is any man-made work that includes sexual materials in the form of drawings, sketches, illustrations, photographs, text, sound, moving pictures, animation, cartoons, poetry, conversations or any other form of communicative message.”
Supporters are hoping that this month means smooth sailing for the bill. “It will be a Ramadan gift,” a PKS (Prosperous Justice Party) member is quoted as stating.
NPR’s Michael Sullivan reported on a 2006 version of the bill. Listen here.
Irfan Prawira: Witness to Violence and Hope
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In the Jakarta riots of 1998, Irfan Prawira’s family was one of those targeted by anti-Chinese violence. His father’s restaurant was burned to the ground. The family was forced to declare bankruptcy and moved into a makeshift home with other Indonesians.
“We all had to live in one room together,” said Irfan of the family of six. “It was very difficult.”
But the experience only strengthened Irfan’s connection to his country.
“I don’t see you as a native, I don’t see you as Chinese,” he said a decade later. “We’re all the same.” Read the full profile of Irfan in today’s Jakarta Post…
Watch excerpts from an interview with Irfan below:
Fiber Art Exhibit: Tradition and Modernity in Jakarta
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(Jakarta Post, 6/9/08) – An expanse of silk fabric stretched across the wall behind artist John Martono at the Bentara Budaya cultural center in Palmerah, South Jakarta.
Photos: P.J. Leo / Jakarta Post
Martono had spent four months on the art work, embroidering a fine, gold thread onto its surface, weaving pebbles brought from Kalimantan and crushing salt onto its fibers to create a complex pattern.
The result, said Martono, is an imagining of the meaning behind his one-year-old son’s wordless cries as the infant learns to speak.
“For me, it’s a kind of never-ending painting,” said Martono, who is based in Bandung. “This composition is very free.”
The piece, titled My Son’s Song, is just one of the many works of art brought together for the 6th Asia Fiber Art Exhibition, now showing until Sept. 14 at Bentara Budaya… Read the full story in The Jakarta Post
Listen to an excerpt from an interview with Senior Deputy Governor for the Bank of Indonesia, Miranda Goeltom, about the exhibit’s theme, Tradition Into Modernity.
Activists Press for Justice in Munir Case
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This Sunday in Jakarta, activists took to the streets to demand justice in the 2004 murder of human rights lawyer, Munir Said Thalib. Munir was well-known for providing legal counsel to victims of human rights abuses under former-President Suharto’s 32-year-rule.
Photo by The Jakarta Post
Munir died of arsenic poisoning on a Geruda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam via Singapore on Sept. 7, 2004. An Indonesian pilot has already been convicted of poisoning Munir and is now serving a 20 year sentence in prison. But the story is threatening to lead higher in the government. As AFP put it in June: “The case is seen as a test of how far the Indonesian government, under its post-Suharto mantra of “Reformasi” or reform, has managed to clean up the security agencies and bring them under democratic, civilian rule.”
Now, a former deputy chief in the State Intelligence Agency has been formerly charged with allegedly premeditating the murder.
The case has been a long time in coming, testing the patience of those seeking a thorough, transparent trial. At one point, vice president Jusuf Kalla urged the country to let justice run its course. But activists don’t seem ready to let up the pressure. Munir’s widow, Suciwati, told AFP in June: “There must be another person who had the ultimate power to order the murder.” It remains to be seen how far up this “other person” goes.
A view from my rooftop
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This evening begins the second week of Ramadhan. The puasa, or fast, is broken at sundown with a call to prayer and a light meal. Here’s one evening in Jakarta Pusat (Central Jakarta).
