Dian Kuswandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 09/16/2008 10:20 AM | Headlines
Civil society groups and two House of Representatives factions are claiming the pornography bill currently before the House violates deliberation procedures and lacks urgency due to its overlap with existing laws.
The country already has several specific laws that take pornography into consideration, such as laws on child protection, broadcasting, the press and the criminal code, the groups said Monday.
"Why are we drafting a new bill on pornography when we already have clearer and stricter laws?" Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Agung Sasongko asked.
A lawmaker from the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), Tiurlan Hutagaol, shared a similar sentiment. The government should be strictly enforcing existing laws to protect the public from the harmful effects of pornography, he said.
PDI-P and PDS have withdrawn from the bill's deliberation.
"It's not that we don't support the anti-pornography movement. All of us here have the same concerns about the danger of pornography, but we don't think we should pass a bill that has the potential to create conflict," Tiurlan told a press conference in Jakarta.
The definition of pornography used in the bill encompasses any man-made work that includes sexual materials in the form of drawings, sketches, illustrations, photographs, text, sound, moving pictures, animation, cartoons, poetry, conversations or any other form of communicative messages.
The groups warned of the possibility of national disintegration as several regions had rejected the anti-pornography measure, including Bali, Papua, North Sulawesi, Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara.
The regions had rejected the bill because of the lack of public involvement in its deliberation, Nia Syarifudin of the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika National Alliance said.
"This has certainly violated the House's deliberation procedure, which requires public participation in the consultation and familiarization of a bill," Nia added.
Tribal groups are among those opposing the bill, claiming they were dismissed from public discussions, he added.
"Several tribal groups in South Sulawesi and Maluku, for example, claimed they had been ignored during the familiarization of the bill on Sept. 12 and 13. The funny thing is, the familiarization didn't show the bill for what it was," he said.
According to lawmaker Agung, the porn bill violated the 2004 law on bill-drafting procedures, which protects the principles of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika ("Unity in Diversity") and the notion of an archipelagic Indonesian state.
"Any bill should be in line with these principles. With Bali and Papua having clearly rejected the bill, its debate can't continue," Agung said.
If the House passes the bill on Sept. 18, the civil society groups will file a complaint with the Constitutional Court to have it revoked, Agung added.
Most journalists attending the conference were in favor of the porn bill and criticized the opposition groups, saying they failed to consider the voice of the majority.
Civil society groups and two House of Representatives factions are claiming the pornography bill currently before the House violates deliberation procedures and lacks urgency due to its overlap with existing laws.
The country already has several specific laws that take pornography into consideration, such as laws on child protection, broadcasting, the press and the criminal code, the groups said Monday.
"Why are we drafting a new bill on pornography when we already have clearer and stricter laws?" Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Agung Sasongko asked.
A lawmaker from the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), Tiurlan Hutagaol, shared a similar sentiment. The government should be strictly enforcing existing laws to protect the public from the harmful effects of pornography, he said.
PDI-P and PDS have withdrawn from the bill's deliberation.
"It's not that we don't support the anti-pornography movement. All of us here have the same concerns about the danger of pornography, but we don't think we should pass a bill that has the potential to create conflict," Tiurlan told a press conference in Jakarta.
The definition of pornography used in the bill encompasses any man-made work that includes sexual materials in the form of drawings, sketches, illustrations, photographs, text, sound, moving pictures, animation, cartoons, poetry, conversations or any other form of communicative messages.
The groups warned of the possibility of national disintegration as several regions had rejected the anti-pornography measure, including Bali, Papua, North Sulawesi, Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara.
The regions had rejected the bill because of the lack of public involvement in its deliberation, Nia Syarifudin of the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika National Alliance said.
"This has certainly violated the House's deliberation procedure, which requires public participation in the consultation and familiarization of a bill," Nia added.
Tribal groups are among those opposing the bill, claiming they were dismissed from public discussions, he added.
"Several tribal groups in South Sulawesi and Maluku, for example, claimed they had been ignored during the familiarization of the bill on Sept. 12 and 13. The funny thing is, the familiarization didn't show the bill for what it was," he said.
According to lawmaker Agung, the porn bill violated the 2004 law on bill-drafting procedures, which protects the principles of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika ("Unity in Diversity") and the notion of an archipelagic Indonesian state.
"Any bill should be in line with these principles. With Bali and Papua having clearly rejected the bill, its debate can't continue," Agung said.
If the House passes the bill on Sept. 18, the civil society groups will file a complaint with the Constitutional Court to have it revoked, Agung added.
Most journalists attending the conference were in favor of the porn bill and criticized the opposition groups, saying they failed to consider the voice of the majority.