“Anti-porno” fight tests Muslim tolerance in Indonesia

By Jonathan Lyons, Asia Security Correspondent

JAKARTA (Reuters) – A battle brewing over a draft anti-smut
law has laid bare deep divisions within Indonesia and, say
critics, threatens its traditionally tolerant approach to
Islam.

With parliament back in session from August 18, the world’s
biggest Muslim nation faces what could prove a defining moment.
Pressured by growing demands from Muslim activists, lawmakers
are expected to hammer out the legislation in the coming
months.

Just what kind of bill emerges — and how much liberal
Muslims, secular nationalists, and non-Muslim minorities water
it down beforehand — remains to be seen.

Already, proposed changes would remove kissing in public
from its catalog of proscribed acts. Other revisions exempt art
and cultural activities from censorship, and reduce the chance
of vigilante enforcement by Muslim hardliners.

Supporters say tough measures are necessary to protect the
public from corrupting Western influence. Although barred by
law, explicit material is available with relative ease in
Indonesia, and television programs regularly feature bared
flesh and sexual innuendo.

Indonesia’s population of 220 million is roughly 85 percent
Muslim.

“We need to protect our young generation from moral
degradation,” said Tifatul Sembiring, chairman of the
fast-rising Islamist party, PKS. “There has not been an
anti-pornography bill in Indonesia, while (such laws) exist in
a western liberal country like America.”

Many mainstream politicians, including President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, have yet to take a stand, apparently for
fear of alienating influential religious forces, including
members of the governing coalition.

Some are no doubt also wary of hardline Muslim gangs, who
have taken to smashing up nightclubs, bars and discos.

Recent targets include offices of the Indonesian edition of
Playboy. The magazine is tame by local standards but the name
conjures up powerful images of Western excess.

STALKING HORSE

Opponents see the “Anti-Pornography and Porno-acts” law as
a stalking horse for demands for austere Saudi-style Islamic
law, which they say is at odds with Indonesian values.

“There is now a growing tendency for conforming Islam, and
identifying it, with the Arabs,” said Lily Zakiyah Munir, a
Muslim intellectual and graduate of a traditional Islamic
boarding school.

In general, Islam in Indonesia is “immersed in local
culture and local custom,” with a wide tolerance for dissent,
said Munir, who says the proposed bill dangerously distorts her
faith.

“Now things seem to be changing. More and more people …
have reduced religion to what is visible rather than
internalizing the values and teachings of the religion.”

In recent years, Indonesia has seen rising popularity of
modest dress for women and men, increased use of Arabic
honorifics and phrases, and national efforts to regulate
citizens’ behavior.

For example, a proposed new criminal code would impose
harsh penalties on unmarried couples living together and other
private acts deemed to violate social and religious norms.

Seizing on the decentralization that accompanied the fall
of the authoritarian Suharto government in 1998, some locales
have passed restrictive laws designed to further public
morality.

One such ordinance requires shopkeepers to close their
businesses during Muslim prayer-times. Another bylaw gives
police the power to detain women for prostitution based on
subjective judgments about their appearance.

It was widely ridiculed after the arrest of a schoolteacher
waiting innocently on the street for her husband.