Jakarta/Denpasar/Surakarta – The government made its position clear on the pornography bill on Wednesday, stating the focus should be on limiting distribution of obscene materials instead of criminalizing personal conduct, particularly of women.
"The government believes the eventual anti-porn law should be effective in protecting the nation from excessive exposure to pornographic material, thus it should touch more on how to regulate its distribution," State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meutia Hatta Swasono said after accompanying President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in a meeting with the National Commission on Violence Against Women.
The special House committee deliberating the bill recently said the vague definitions, particularly defining "obscene" conduct, would be scrapped.
The bill has been criticized for imperiling the rights of women, already under pressure from the introduction of sharia regulations on dress and public conduct in scattered areas of the country.
"We also ask... that women are treated fairly, it's as if they are blamed by the way they dress," Meutia said, in a rare reinforcement of the government's stated policies toward equal treatment of women.
The minister said limiting the distribution of materials considered obscene was essential to protecting minors from exposure to potentially harmful images.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle has been most vocal in its opposition to the bill, sharing the stance of women's groups and the arts community.
In contrast, the Prosperous Justice Party is among the few parties left in pushing for retention of the contentious articles. The Islamic-oriented party says the Criminal Code is inadequate in protecting minors and in preventing what it considers the country's increasing moral degradation.
The bill's proponents also dismiss claims that it presents a monolithic value system for multicultural Indonesia, and argue opponents ignore the aim of the "greater good" of preventing sexual exploitation and immorality.
On Wednesday, Bali Governor Dewa Made Beratha and council speaker IBP Wesnawa stated their official rejection of the bill and its deliberation. Artists and activists have protested a number of times in the province, including in a noisy, crowded hearing and plenary session at the provincial legislative council on Wednesday.
The governor said the future law "might put Balinese cultural heritage and sacred religious objects in danger of legal prosecution".
The governor was angered by the pursuance of a legal grievance from a Muslim organization, the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia, who accused him as showing separatist tendencies in his opposition to the bill.
In the Central Java town of Surakarta, at least 1,000 artists, students and activists protested the bill, with about 500 tayub traditional dancers joining the parade.
Murtdijono, the organizer and head of the Central Java Cultural Center, feared the passage of the bill into law would lead to moral crusaders patrolling the streets unhindered.
"Members of militant groups will feel they have legal grounds to act as they like toward artists and their works due to a one sided interpretation, at a time when law enforcement is very weak," he said.