0 Indonesia’s Porn Bill: a true choice?

By: Hambari Nursalam

Nowadays, pornography has become a sensitive issue in most countries, especially in Indonesia . Recently, Indonesian government has made a prevention act to minimize the spread of pornography in the society which has been long existed in mass media. This rule was named “Porn Bill”, proposed by the House of Representative (DPR) on 31 October 2008.

However, there were pros and cons about the Porn Bill .For those who support the Bill has been showing their concern about the situation in Indonesia in which we have no control over the media in producing the pornography. In their point of view, if there are no rules or anticipation, it is a serious threat to the nation particularly towards young generations. We cannot deny of the fact that some crimes were resulted from the pornography. At the same time, it is somehow related to the morality of the society. If pornography is allowed to be exposed freely, the image of the country will be at risk!

In contrary, for those who disagree and rejected the Porn Bill has viewed that it has been a discrimination towards the women and discredit the Human Rights (HAM). They argued that Indonesia is not a religious country but a country which is based on Pancasila (the Five Principles).Therefore, in their opinion, Porn Bill is full of certain religion’s orientation especially Islamic religion as Islam dominates the majority of Indonesian population.

In this case, we should look at both sides wisely; the first group is not in the wrong track as their reasons are true. If we see through the fact, pornography in Indonesian society is in critical condition. There are many Medias whom have been purposely producing and spreading the pornography. In fact, pornography could be found anywhere. There is a need for such a rule to curb this situation. Porn Bill is not a new thing, in fact, Porn Bill has been implemented by many countries regardless whether it is secular, liberal, or communist and not an Islamic country, such as: United States, China, and Europe.

The second group should know that Porn Bill does not contradict with the Human Rights. It is actually supported the Human Rights because it upholds women’s image and save them from the exploitation. They cannot accuse Porn Bill of being a product of Muslim’s orientation just because the majority of Indonesian Muslims and all Islamic political party agree and support the Porn Bill. The content of Porn bill is still far from the Islamic rules about the women. If the Bill really caters the need of Muslim, then the Bill will be more an upbeat. In addition, we are saddened by the condition of the society which has been affected by the product of pornography. Hence, it was the main reason for the advent of the Porn Bill.

In my opinion, Porn Bill is very important because it involves our concerns towards our generations as well as our Indonesia country’s future. It is queer that Indonesia comprises the biggest Muslim population in the world in which two hundred and thirty million of total population with 80% are Muslim, but Indonesia has little control over the rule about pornography, and it was already infested in the society. If the pornography has much negative impact, the major sacrification would be from Muslim community. So, it is not a mistake for the current government to introduce the Porn Bill. This is the time to save the nation from the threat, and to dam up the wave of moral destruction.

The Porn Bill is the first step. the government must be consistent in implementing the Bill, because this is the only way to curb this situation. There are not just simply terrorist, drug, or crime that threaten the society but also pornography. Thus, “prevention is better than cure!”