From comparisons to the Peterporn scandal to plans to seize and examine politicians' gadgets, the case of a lawmaker photographed browsing a pornographic Web site has sparked a range of strong and unusual reactions.
Indonesia's online community was abuzz over the weekend commenting on the controversy, particularly since the lawmaker involved, Arifinto, hails from the staunchly Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Several posts and tweets compared Arifinto's treatment to that of Nazril "Ariel" Irham, frontman of pop band Peterpan, who was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after sex tapes featuring a man resembling him spread like wildfire.
Ligwina Hananto, a noted financial planner, wrote on her Twitter account that if Arifinto is allowed to walk free, Ariel should be released as well.
Meanwhile, the West Java board of the PKS said it planned to confiscate gadgets owned by party lawmakers in the local legislative council (DPRD) to prevent them from watching porn.
Tate Qomarudin, the head of the party's leadership board in the region, said he had decided to take preventive measures after the recent scandal. "The gadget raid may be done at any time, but we are still focusing on investigating Pak Arifianto's case," he said.
Tate said the party's strong stance against pornography, led by communications minister and PKS politician Tifatul Sembiring, would not change in the wake of the incident.
"Public criticism that Pak Tifatul's antiporn campaign has been ruined by one of his fellow party members is a sign the public cares about fighting pornography," he said.
In one of the strangest responses to the issue, a sarcastic tweet by Norwegian porn actress and nude model Vicky Vette was taken as fact by some local media outlets.
After she tweeted, "I am super happy that Mr. Arifinto got my e-mail, I sent him my best pictures," stories saying "Vicky Vette admits sending Arifinto e-mail" appeared on various news portals.
Vette immediately tweeted a response: "Indonesian reporters, we have a thing on Twitter called sarcasm, look it up."