Andra Wisnu, Sanur – Executives of the Association of the Indonesian Tour & Travel Agencies (ASITA) and tourism businessmen in Bali announced their rejection of the proposed pornography bill, further extending the list of opponents to the bill.
President of ASITA Ben Sukma criticized the bill, calling it a reckless move on the part of the House of Representatives (DPR) because the DPR had failed to accommodate the aspirations of the pluralistic cultures in Indonesia.
"Especially in Bali, where women wear cleavage-revealing dresses. That's not pornography. That's culture. The same goes for Batak, where women dress similarly," Ben said.
Speaking during the 11th ASITA Regional Assembly at the Grand Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur on Thursday, Ben said it was not how people dressed that was pornographic, but that it was evil only if people saw it as so.
"I think Indonesians never used to think badly about the way Balinese dressed in the past when women didn't even wear tops."
The bill defines pornography as acts that incite sexual desire. Proponents defended the bill, saying it would be a way to improve faith in God and to protect women and children.
Al Purwa, chairman of Bali's ASITA chapter, voiced similar concerns, predicting the end of Bali's flourishing tourism industry should the bill be made into a law.
He said if the bill was passed, then even the lengang lenggok dance (a traditional dance where dancers sway their bodies) could be mistaken as pornography, which in effect would take away one of the island's main tourist attractions.
ASITA plans to use all its influence to prevent the bill from being passed, he said.
ASITA joined, among others, recently installed Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika and the Provincial Legislative Council in opposition against the bill, repeating the province's synonymous movement when the draft was first proposed in 2006.
Most businessman with vested interests in the tourism sector also announced their concern for tourism should the bill pass.
Robert Murdoch, a hotelier, said the government had not taken into consideration the repercussions of the bill to the tourist industry.
He cited as an example Thailand's tourism industry at the time of the military coup d'etat that ousted then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, when more than 20,000 hotel bookings had been canceled.
He said the government's timing in reviving the pornography bill was even more egregious with the holiday season of Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year's closing in.
"I think the bill has a good potential to destabilize the country's political climate and therefore must be very carefully reviewed," he said.
I Gusti Bagus Yudhara, owner of Astina Tours and Travel, said he would be ready to comply with the bill's regulation if it passed, but had voiced his solidarity with other Balinese tourism business people in their opposition toward the bill. "Everyone of us in Bali is of the same voice and that voice is being carried by Bali's Legislative Council to Jakarta – that is to fight the bill," he said.