Ati Nurbaiti, Sanur, Bali – Women's groups, NGOs and lawyers said Wednesday they might file for a judicial review of the newly passed anti-pornography law, while activists called for public education campaigns, research and rallies to be held to have the law repealed.
Mariana Aminuddin of Jurnal Perempuan magazine said women's groups were gathering lawyers from across the country to file the request at the Constitutional Court.
At a conference of women researchers and activists, the Kartini Asia Network, participants signed a petition for solidarity in opposing the anti-pornography law. "We must be optimistic," said Valentina Sagala of the Women's Institute, which issued the petition.
She said in addition to several flaws, the law risked allowing for the "politically legalized intervention of the state in defining moral ethics".
Critics say the bill, passed by the House of Representatives on Oct. 30, ignored widespread protests, including from North Sulawesi and Bali.
State Minister for Women's Affairs Meutia Hatta insisted the law would protect women and children from pornography. She said many groups did not fully understand it or the changes made in response to the protests.
"The law doesn't only serve one group, and it doesn't undermine our diversity," she stressed. Large rallies against the law are planned in Bali for later this month.
Kamala Chandrakirana, chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence Against Women chairwoman (Komnas Perempuan), warned of the legal fallout should the Constitutional Court, which issues the final binding verdict on a law's validity, uphold the law.
She said it was better "to educate people on all the clauses of the law that protect the people", given a clause allowing for public participation in preventing pornography.
The clause states this can include reporting suspected instances of pornography to the police, and "must be in accordance with the regulations". Critics fear it could be abused and lead to people taking the law into their hands.
Dwi Rubiyanti Kholifah, Indonesia's representative to the Asian Muslim Action Network (Aman), said "research is needed into the impact of the law", adding public feedback was also required. She warned of radical groups could take the law into their own hands.
Activists from Turkey and Malaysia, where women have campaigned intensively against laws considered detrimental to women and minorities, said the continuous mobilization of people would be needed to stop the law from taking effect.
Pinar Ilkkaracan of Turkey's Women for Women's Human Rights-New Ways, said the campaign against attempts to revise the Constitution to eliminate state responsibility in ensuring equality between men and women "was very loud and very tiring".
Zainah Anwar, who chairs the Kuala Lumpur-based Sisters in Islam, said if women felt they would be harmed by the law, then they should be mobilized to object to it. Zainah also cited their experience to stress that "to create a moralistic society, a punitive law does not work".
Madu Mehra of the Asian Pacific Women, Law and Development Network's Women's Human Rights Working Group, said a more effective law would be one on hate crimes, one that "controls violence and nonconsensual behavior", rather than one that obscured the differences between pornography and consensual and nonconsensual sexual behavior.