Jakarta – A government official has criticized a ban imposed by Tangerang and Bandung administrations on dangdut singer Dewi Persik, saying it amounts to criminalization of women.

"The action the local authorities have taken against Dewi Persik is, first, discrimination against women and, second, paints women as seductresses.

"Third, they don't realize there are national laws on this issue. Sometimes local authorities issue regulations that contradict the national laws," Sri Danti, the deputy women's empowerment minister for gender mainstreaming, said Thursday.

"It's a setback. Dewi Persik is being criminalized because of the patriarchal way of thinking: seeing women as objects not as humans."

Dewi has been banned from performing in Tangerang and Bandung because her performance style and stage costumes are deemed sexually provocative.

Another dangdut singer, Inul Daratista, who rose to fame in 2003, received similar bans from the regional governments of Yogyakarta, Palembang and Surakarta.