💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 1905.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 07:46:35. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2021-12-05)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2010-03-25 11:55:08
By Karishma Vaswani
BBC News, Jakarta
Indonesia's constitutional court has upheld a controversial anti-pornography
law, disappointing activists and cultural groups who had challenged it.
The court said that the law's definition of pornography was clear and did not
violate the constitution.
The law was passed in 2008 and heavily backed by Islamic parties who helped to
draft it.
But it was opposed by minority groups who say it goes against Indonesia's
tradition of diversity and pluralism.
The anti-pornography law was passed with an overwhelming majority in the
Indonesian parliament.
But it has been seen by minority groups as a step towards strict Islamic law,
stifling religious and artistic freedom.
Clear definition
Women's groups and representatives from some of Indonesia's cultural
associations challenged the law in the constitutional court.
They argued that the definition of pornography under the law was too broad and
targeted cultural and traditional performances as well as discriminating
against women.
But the constitutional court ruled that the law was not biased and that the
definition of pornography was clear and would stay as it is.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation - more than 80% of the
population is Muslim.
Other religions are also recognised under Indonesian law, because the
constitution is secular.
But critics of the anti-pornography law fear that Indonesia may be sliding
towards Islamic extremism - and that is why they are so firmly against it.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/8586749.stm
Published: 2010/03/25 10:03:30 GMT