Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's main Islamic authority, the Council of Ulema (MUI), is waging a war against television stations and several publications, charging them of veering increasingly towards sex and pornography in the country.

The Muslim clerics in MUI are taking offence at the sight of bikini-clad blondes in highly rated programmes such as Baywatch, as well as the sight of old Indonesian couples embracing one another in ballroom dancing competitions on television.

They are urging the government to take these "pornographic" programmes off the air, and to ban men's publications and raunchy tabloids bearing scantily-dressed women.

MUI Secretary Din Syamsuddin said: "Pornography and porn acts are rampantly promoted by the mass media, causing moral degradation which in the long term can ruin the nation."

MUI and several mostly Muslim groups have set up the National Anti-Pornography Movement, which is currently working on a draft of Anti-Pornography Bill. The group wants to make the definition of pornography more specific than the existing law, to make the law easier to enforce.

Under the current criminal code, pornography is defined ambiguously as an "act that violates decency". As a result, out of some 18 publications questioned by the police over the last few years, none have been successfully proven guilty of publishing pornographic materials.

The Muslim groups have been accusing the government of being too soft on the issue of pornography.

A study by the Habibie Centre, a think-tank linked to the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association, concluded recently that rampant pornography in the free press era has led to the increase of sexual crimes such as rapes, incest and child molestation.

Mr Doddy Yudhista of the Centre's Media Watch and Consumer Centre said the study also showed that about 60 to 70 per cent of pirated VCDs sold by street vendors are porn films.

Tabloids and magazines displaying half naked women with sexual contents also dominate the magazine stands these days. Even mainstream men's magazines like Matra and Popular, which often has models in sexy swim suits on its covers, have "gone pornographic", he said.

"Some of these mainstream magazines have sex consultation columns in language that can arouse a high school student," he told The Straits Times.

But media figures are worried that the crackdown on pornography would justify the return of press repression after the industry was liberalised by the then president B.J. Habibie in 1998. They fear the government would review the publishing licence requirement, which in the government of Suharto was used to maintain a grip on the media industry.

Media observer Hinca Panjaitan said anti-pornography groups, though small in number, are influential pressure groups that could endanger press freedom. "What these groups are doing is using a bomb to kill a mosquito," he told The Straits Times.

Under the existing 1997 law on broadcasting, a broadcasting company that promotes pornographic materials can face three years in jail or 300 million rupiah in fine. Mr Hinca said these groups should take up the pornography problems to court instead of calling on the government to crack down on the media.

Chairman of the Press Council Atmakusumah shared the same views, saying the government should regulate the distribution of publications considered suitable for adults only.

"Sex-related publications should be sold only to adults and their raunchy covers should be covered, while programmes with sexual contents should be aired late at night," he said.

Dancing: Is this porn?

Media figures say the Council of Ulema's war on porn is exaggerated, noting that some of the shows are tame.

These include the highly popular Dansa Yo Dansa on state-owned TVRI where older couples dance to Latin and ballroom music.