Indonesia today (Thursday) was expected to pass what some regarded as the most wide-ranging anti-pornography bill ever enacted. According to the Jakarta Post, the bill defines pornography as “man-made sexual materials either in the forms of drawings, sketches, illustrations, photographs, texts, voices, sound, moving pictures, animations, cartoons, poetry, conversations, gestures, or other forms of communicative messages through various kinds of media and or performances in front of the public, which may incite sexual desire and or violate moral ethics in the community.” Opponents of the bill have noted that it would bar not only the screening of most Hollywood films but those from most other countries as well. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim nation. http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0594446/
Remember the U.S. aid was forced to leave because militant Indo muslim radicals on bikes with guns were tending to the needs of the masses?
Have you forgotten the '05 beheading of the Christian Indo schoolgirls, or did you not know? I was living in Australia at the time and it was very big news there, not only the beheadings but that U.S. aid was forced out by Indo muslims with guns on bikes.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana
It’s a culture war the Indo muslims have been fighting for the last two decades and it seems they’ve been given the upper hand by the Bush administration. The Southern Philippines has been following the same pattern the last 10 years and it’s slowly moving North through the islands.
Its not surprising on the face of it for the world’s largest Muslim country. But Inonesia has been regarded as a moderate muslim country (alcohol available, homosexuality legal). In non-Muslim Bali, there has been a lot of opposition to the bill, because it will effectively outlaw bikinis on the beach (belly buttons falling foul of this law). It will harm their economy enormously.
There seems to be the start of a new puritanicalism, with a simillar law in Australlia and here in the UK a big fuss over 2 comedians being suspended for making rude answerphone messages - not nice, but a huge over reaction that may be a sign of austere times.