SBY signs porn law, protesters despair

Abdul Khalik , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 12/09/2008 7:33 AM | Headlines

Defying persistent protests by a number of provinces and scores of civil society groups, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has signed the anti-pornography bill, ratifying a law that criminalizes any sex-related materials deemed to violate public morality.

Yudhoyono’s special staff for legal affairs Denny Indrayana said Monday the President enacted the law right after he returned home from a two-week world tour on Nov. 26.

“It becomes Law No. 44/2008 on anti-pornography. The President signed it because it was already a national consensus,” Denny told The Jakarta Post.

He said the government was now preparing a regulation to implement the law.

However, resistance to the law remains widespread, with some provinces — including Bali, Papua, North Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara — rejecting it out of hand.

Balinese and the island’s local administration have threatened to forge a civilian disobedience to protest the law, and other rights and religious groups have said they would file a judicial review with the Constitutional Court (MK) if the law were ratified.

Kamala Chandrakirana, chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, said she was gravely disappointed with Yudhoyono’s decision, saying his action had diminished public trust in his leadership and his cause to promote pluralism.

“It is a betrayal of our own national values. Komnas Perempuan and many other organizations are now consolidating and seriously studying each article within the law to be ready to submit a judicial review with the MK soon,” she said.

The ratification of the law also means Yudhoyono has defied one of his advisors, Adnan Buyung Nasution, who recommended the President not sign or ratify the law, warning it could threaten national unity.

“I was too late. I sent a letter on Nov. 27 telling the President not to sign the bill. But I learned later he had signed it. I will meet him Wednesday to ask him about it,” he said.

Wednesday is International Human Rights Day.

Buyung, however, said he was optimistic the MK would grant a judicial review, adding that the law violated the Constitution as it could not be enacted equally throughout the country.

The passage of the bill into law at the House of Representatives in October was also met with strong opposition from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS).

The bill has survived protracted protests from rights activists and pluralist organizations who have said some articles could lead to national disintegration.

An article that allows members of the public to take action to destroy pornographic material has raised fears several groups could take the law into their own hands and have grounds to justify the use of violence and intimidation.

Source : www.thejakartapost.com