Jakarta – Experts and activists on Monday urged the government to reject the pornography bill because it was "unnecessary, legally inappropriate and would threaten the country's stability".

"The articles (of the bill) are open to so many interpretations. It creates uncertainty instead of unity," Hendardi, the head of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, told reporters at the Nahdatul Ulama head office in Central Jakarta.

He said the regulation was discriminative and undermined cultural diversity, disregarding all legal standards in Indonesia. "Our standpoint is clear: we are completely against pornography. But this bill is not the answer to our problems."

Ratna Sarumpaet, an artist and women's rights activist, said the core of the problem with pornography was Indonesia's corrupt law enforcement. "Let's just use the available laws and strengthen our law enforcement. For example, if we really abided by the law regulating our media, we wouldn't be seeing half-naked women on the covers of magazines sold freely on the streets," Ratna said.

The bill, which allows "pornography" in the arts, religious ceremonies and education, would endanger the development of the arts here, she said.

"The law even grants power to organizations or other groups, like the Islamic Defenders Front, to resort to anarchy for the sake of ending pornography," she said, referring to an article of the bill that calls on all parties "to prevent the making, distribution and use of pornography for inappropriate purposes".

Musdah Mulia, an Islamic scholar and long-time anti-pornography activist, said the bill was based on a biased understanding of religious teachings. "If the government thinks the bill can fix our nation's moral decadence, they are on the wrong track," she said.

She said the bill considered a woman's body "evil" and also portrayed women as the "backbone (of) Indonesia's morality", two concepts she said were gender-biased. "I could go on and on analyzing the bill from an Islamic point of view and still come up with the conclusion the bill is mubazir (unnecessary)," she said.

Yenny Rosa Damayanti, a women's rights activist, said the law, which has been called the government's effort to protect women from being objects of pornography, endangered women who were forced or involuntarily caught up in situations or activities that are perceived as pornographic.

"This law allows women to be criminalized for their actions. What if they were forced, victims of trafficking or victims of hidden cameras?" she said.

Yenny added the law was unable to provide a clear definition of "pornography" but categorized it as "light" and "heavy" pornography. She said, "Whose perspective are we using here? How can we categorize something so vague?" (lva)