Jakarta struggles with the politics of pornography

The 200-plus demonstrators from the student group Concerned Muslims who had gathered in light drizzle at one of central Jakarta’s main roundabouts had a simple message for passing motorists. ”Reject Playboy! Reject Playboy!” they shouted. ”Don’t publish that filth here. Keep the Indonesian nation clean.”

”We don’t need that sort of porno here,” said Muhammad Salim. ”There’s enough vice here already.”

Playboy has signed a deal with a local company to publish an Indonesian edition, its editorial director, David Walker, confirmed to The Guardian. It will be the company’s 21st international edition, although Walker said publication has been delayed until ”both partners are satisfied the product addresses the sensitivities of the marketplace”.

”[It] will be tailored to the culture and tastes of the Indonesian marketplace and conform to the legal standards of the region,” he said.

He added that it would not contain nude photography or graphic sexual content. ”Any magazine we launch in Indonesia would be focused on many of the other things Playboy is well known for: high-quality editorial, including interviews and feature stories written by renowned local writers and journalists.”

Demonstrations

Such reassurances have counted for little among Indonesia’s conservative Islamic leaders, who, in the wake of almost daily demonstrations and growing internet petitions, appear to be using this issue to gain the moral high ground.

”From the government’s point of view, we disagree with Playboy‘s publication,” the Vice-President, Jusuf Kalla was quoted as saying on Friday.

Hasyim Muzadi, the normally measured chairperson of the country’s largest Muslim organisation, the moderate Nahdlatul Ulama, is equally upset. ”Indonesia is different from Europe or America, where the culture and attitudes towards nudity are totally different from ours,” he said. ”[Playboy] simply has no place in our social norms.”

Magazine seller Ferry Abdullah, who hawks magazines in the traffic jam along one of the motorways in west Jakarta, laughed off the objections. ”It’s the porno that sells best,” he said, flipping over an Ikea catalogue to reveal a copy of Tits, a locally produced magazine that consists of pictures of naked women and almost certainly made-up sex stories. ”I’ve been trying to sell this catalogue for 10 days while I’ve already sold three copies of Tits this week.”

Eddy Suprapto, the head of the Alliance of Independent Journalists, believes the opposition is ignorant, xenophobic and hypocritical. ”It’s irrational hatred of a Western product. They don’t know if it’s good or bad,” he said. ”They just associate the name with pornography. They don’t know Playboy has done interviews with American Islamic figures and articles on al-Qaeda.”

He also points to the ease with which pornography, much of it harder core than Playboy, is readily available in Jakarta. Sellers like Ferry work at traffic lights around the city. The Glodok district of Chinatown is renowned for pornographic DVDs, and watchdogs regularly report on the vast amounts amount of pornography downloaded at internet cafes.

Leo Batubara, a senior member of Indonesia’s press council, said there are about 20 mainstream publications which people regularly complain about.”Some of them are foreign but most are local,” he said. ”We can’t do anything because we don’t have the power to rule over pornography. That’s the police’s job.”

Some, such as Matra and Popular, have been around for 20 years, while foreign titles such as FHM, Maxim and Cosmopolitan are new arrivals. Very few are actually pornographic, argues Endy Bayuni, the editor of the Jakarta Post. ”People are confusing pornography and eroticism,” he said.

Bandwagon

Indonesia’s criminal code, much of it a hangover from Dutch colonial times, does not define pornography, but MPs are trying to change that. Their pornography Bill has run into opposition, however, because they seem unable to decide what is decent. In its present form, the bill outlaws husbands and wives kissing in public, Papuans wearing traditional dress (a penis gourd and nothing else), and the dancing that accompanies the folksy pop music known as dangdut.

”They don’t care what they’re doing or saying,” Bayuni said. ”It’s just that now is the time for politicians to be jumping on pornography and everyone wants to be seen to be on the bandwagon. They might eventually pass the Bill but there will probably be so many loopholes it’s hard to know if anything will actually change.”

Abdullah, the magazine seller, agrees. ”I’ve read that Indonesia will only be available by subscription or in posh bookshops,” he said. ”I am certain I’ll be selling it from the launch. It’s about satisfying demand.”

At a glance