Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which has been by far the most vocal party in its opposition to the pornography bill, is proposing revisions to the bill if pressure to drop the bill fails.
Member of the House of Representatives Special Committee for the pornography bill, Sukmadewi Djakse, said that the content of the bill was extremely dangerous because it not only tried to regulate people's morality but was also trying to change a multicultural society into a monocultural one.
Sukmadewi said that the PDI-P faction of the House proposed a revision of six points in the bill. She said that PDI-P proposed that the title of the bill be changed from the Pornography and Indecent Acts bill to Control of Distribution of Pornographic Materials bill. Under the new title, the bill would only regulate the distribution of pornographic materials, and not people's conduct.
PDI-P proposes that the bill accommodate the cultural, ethnic, and religious differences in society; that it should not control people's private lives or make assumptions about individual morality or ethics. PDI-P also asserts that the bill should not regulate public morality and ethics based on one particular religion and should not be counterproductive to empowering people. Likewise it should not discriminate on the basis of gender, or limit artistic creativity.
Sukmadewi said that if House legislators did not agree to the six points proposed by PDI-P, then they would certainly reject the passing of the bill into law.
Secretary-general of PDI-P, Pramono Anung, said that the pornography bill threatened the nation's plurality, adding that an ideological battle was raging.
He added that with the deliberation of the pornography bill, the battle had been brought to the national level, with some groups trying to insert Islamic teachings into the nation's laws. He added that the ideological battle was also playing out on the local level with local government regulations that implemented sharia, such as in Cianjur, West Java, and the most recent controversial regulation on prostitution in Tangerang.
He said that the debate on nationhood had already been carried out by the nation's founding fathers, with the foundation for the Republic of Indonesia determined by the Constitution and the state ideology Pancasila, and not based on any particular religion.
University of Indonesia's Reni Ch. Suwarno, from the political science department, said that the bill ran counter to the 1984 law on the eradication of discrimination against women.
Reni said that there was a stigma on people who opposed the pornography bill as they were seen as supporting pornography, or they were not perceived as good Muslims.
She said that this stigma was unfounded and that the substance of the bill endangered women's rights, as well as the nation's integration, with four provinces – Bali, North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, and Papua – opposing the bill. Bali has even threatened to secede, if the bill is passed into law.
The bill has drawn controversy because it prohibits kissing in public, inappropriate or provocative dress and nudity in art, among other things.