--- On Tue, 10/14/08, Kurniawaty Gautama <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: Kurniawaty Gautama <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Artist, educators nervous about porn bill
To: "publikseni" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "eksotika karmawibangha" <[EMAIL
PROTECTED]>
Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 10:19 PM
Artists, educators nervous about porn bill
Dorian Merina , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 10/06/2008 9:58 AM |
Potpourri
Due to increasing pressure, legislators have agreed to revise the controversial
anti-pornography bill, scheduled to be introduced to the House of
Representatives later this year.
But after a series of public hearings -- held in Jakarta, Ambon, Makassar and
Banjarmasin -- and a volley of criticism in which groups pointed to an
expansive definition of pornography and vague wording in a draft of the
legislation, it's not yet clear if that will be enough to pass the bill.
"We understand that this is a delicate issue," said Bahrul Hayat,
secretary-general of the Religious Affairs Ministry. "It is not a one-day
process."
Originally, supporters had pledged to pass the bill before the end of Ramadan,
but critics pushed for more discussion.
The Ministry welcomes public input into the process, said Bahrul, but he
emphasized that the bill still must move forward.
"As a law it is a common agreement. It cannot please everybody," he said. And,
although the law would seek to protect cultural diversity in Indonesia, he
added, questions of appropriate art would be settled in the courts.
Some artists and educators, however, remain anxious about the bill's potential
effects on artistic expression and education.
While many agree with the need to curtail pornographic material -- especially
for youth -- they cite the potential for abuse or misunderstanding and a
general lack of clarity in exactly how the law would be enforced.
"This is very problematic," said curator Rifky Effendy, after reading a draft
of the bill. "We have to define what is public space, because public space has
many contexts."
As an art curator, Rifky said he was especially concerned about the regulation
of art within galleries. In 2005, Rifky was at the center of controversy when
the Islam Defender's Front, a fundamentalist Muslim group, protested an
installation by artist Agus Suwage that Rifky helped organize.
The artwork, called Pinkswing Park, explored the story of Adam and Eve through
contemporary photographs, some of which included nudity.
Although many in the art community defended Suwage, Rifky said the controversy
took its toll on some of the artists involved in the show. The protest
stretched for months and was followed by a lawsuit, which created a chilling
effect on other artists.
The current porn bill could have a similar result, said Rifky.
"If the government doesn't have the tools to implement this kind of bill, it
could be dangerous," he said. And in order to achieve political ends, he added,
"there is a chance for militant groups to use this law."
Last month, Mahfudz Siddiq, chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party said the
pornography law was needed in Indonesia because of the rising threat of moral
decadence.
Nia Gautama, an independent artist based in Jakarta, said artists do need to be
responsible about their work.
"I totally agree with some limitations," she said. But, she added, the current
bill goes too far in controlling art.
Nia's ceramic art draws on nature, which sometimes includes the human body. She
noted that traditional Indonesian art regularly depicted human bodies, either
to illustrate legends or to celebrate the human form.
"For myself, I am proud to be born as a woman," she said. The physical form is
one she emulates in her work. "It is very beautiful and it is beautiful for an
art object."
Some women's rights groups, including the Women's Legal Aid Foundation and
Kalyanamitra, have criticized the pornography law as unfairly targeting women.
In a press conference last month in Jakarta, both groups said they feared the
bill's overly-broad definition of pornography as "bodily movements or other
forms of communication" that "can arouse sexual desire and/or violate moral
values in society", could be used to regulate women's dress and behavior in
public.
"They want to limit our expression as women, our destiny as women," said Baby
Jim Aditya, founder of Partisipasi Kemanusiaan, an organization that provides
education for Indonesia's prison population.
Baby said she was also concerned that the porn bill could affect her work in
sex education when speaking at schools and prisons about urgent health issues,
such as HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases.
"And the big question now is: who is going to be the moral police? Who gives
you the right to be the policeman for other people's morality?" said Baby.
Other educators agreed with a stricter control over some media content.
Television, especially, should be more closely monitored, said Setiawan Sabana,
an art history professor at Bandung Institute of Technology.
Still, he said, adequate enforcement of existing laws would be preferable to
the new porn bill.
The writer is an intern with The Jakarta Post.
