Tons of porn news today, get yer porn here.

Cholil Ridwan, the head of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), says that traditional forms of dress, those which leave too much female flesh on display and would therefore contravene the provisions against pornoaksi, or public indecency, should be consigned to museums. The good man clearly plumps for Arab rather than Indonesian, in terms of the future character of the nation.

Some women, like in Lombok, have complained that they would no longer be able to wear their favourite colourful ethnic type clothing if the bill were passed.

But Ridwan is having none of it, just hurry up and die quietly he says to the unique cultures of Indonesia, Islam awaits, keep your aurat well hidden or else.

Just store them in a museum, don’t perpetuate [it], because it’s not appropriate in terms of the prestige/status of this nation. Let it become a part of history.
(Itu disimpan saja di museum, jangan dilestarikan, karena tidak sesuai dengan martabat bangsa ini. Biar menjadi sejarah bahwa itu pernah menjadi bagian dari bangsa ini.)

Or is it him that belongs in a museum?

But there are those who claim that the bill has nothing to do with Islam, such as Hidayat Nur Wahid, the chairman of the People`s Consultative Assembly (MPR) and former leader of the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Do not interpret the bill as something serving the interest of a particular religious group but instead let us think of its virtues for the state and nation.

The assumption that the bill is intended to make Indonesia a Muslim country is totally incorrect.

he said, citing the fact that the bill did not require women to cover their heads nor did it forbid them to go out unaccompanied or at night.

There was a great need for the bill he said, the nation was in danger of moral collapse.

The moral behavior of our younger generations at present is being slowly eroded by western culture while there is less and less parental attention and supervision.

All true actually, but is the iron fist of the law, 10 year jail sentences, massive fines, fear and confusion, the best answer to any perceived problems?

Meanwhile the Forum Umat Islam, the Islamic Faithful/Community Forum, have urged for the passing of the Rancangan Undang-undang Antipornografi dan Pornoaksi (RUU APP) law.

Said FUI chairman, Prof Dr Salim Badjri:

The police at the moment have trouble in dealing with pornography and lewd behaviour because there is no good umbrella law.
(Bahkan saat ini pun aparat kepolisian sulit untuk menindak pelaku pornografi dan pornoaksi tersebut karena ketiadaan payung hukum yang memadai.)

The younger generation needed to be saved from porn, he said:

If youth are allowed to have their morals ruined how will they later be able to lead the nation?
(Kalau sampai generasi muda sudah rusak akhlaknya, bagaimana nantinya mereka bisa memimpin bangsa ini?)

His colleague, Didi Suryadi of the Cirebon branch of the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia, said that those who sought revisions in the law were merely motivated by business concerns, such as those in Bali who complain that tourism will be harmed.

Above all the proposals [to modify the bill] are only based on the business interests of just one group, not on the interests of the entire nation.
(Terlebih usulan tersebut hanya bersandarkan pada kepentingan bisnis sekelompok orang saja, bukan untuk kepentingan bangsa dan negara yang lebih luas.)

In a somewhat similar, but far more threatening vein, Suryadi’s superior, the chairman of the MMI, Irfan F. Awwas, said that those in Bali who might use the pornography law issue to push for independence from Indonesia should be dealt with by the national authorities. He made specific reference to the governor of Bali, I Made Dewa Bratha, and the head of the Komite Nasional Pemuda Indonesia (KNPI), the Indonesian National Youth Committee of Bali, I Putu Gde Indrawan.

In fact the governor had only said that the economy of Bali was threatened by the bill. Indrawan though did say that the passing of the bill would be a reason for Bali to exit from the Indonesian state. Irfan F. Awwas said that both men should be “processed by the law”.

But Balkan Kaplele, the legislator and chairman of the special committee finalizing the bill, said that changes would be made to the bill in response to public outcry.

A number of areas, those which concern public indecency, would be scrapped from the draft, although he did not say which ones, with the number of articles in the bill falling from 93 to 82, and the plan to set up a special body to enforce the law would also go by the wayside, the responsibility for enforcement would fall to the police. Provisions for penalties would also be removed, with the existing Criminal Code being relied on for clarification of punishments.

He also said that the definition of pornography and pornoaksi would be revised and would become far more restrictive and clear. The old draft of the bill had this:

Pornoaksi is behaviour which exploits sexuality, obscenity, and/or eroticism in public.
(pornoaksi adalah perbuatan mengeksploitasi seksual, kecabulan, dan/atau erotika di muka umum.)

In that case I would translate the term pornaksi as “public indecency”. But in the new draft, Balkan said, it is changed to something like:

Pornoaksi is the effort to make money or trade or publicise/make viewable pornography.

Huge change, if true, and should take the sting out of it.