War on pornography

War on pornography

If Thursday's ruling against Matra men's magazine was supposed
to have showcased the government's clampdown against pornography,
the police and the judiciary could not have made a worst choice.
Picking on the monthly magazine for printing pictures of young
models which the judge considered semipornographic -- when dozens
of other magazines got away with printing far more blatant and
offensive pictures -- has sent the wrong signal about the
authorities' sense of priority. Picking on Matra's editor
Robertus Riantiarno, who was given a five-month suspended
sentence by the court, gave the dangerous impression that the
authorities still feel animosity toward the man who has had
several brushes with the law in the past for defending free
speech.

As much as the public sympathizes with the difficulties the
government faces in curbing the spread of pornographic material,
picking on Matra was a grave error. The real culprits in the big
pornographic business are still loose out there, spreading filth
and raking in profit with impunity. By convicting Riantiarno, the
authorities may have turned the heat on genuine campaigners of
free speech.

In the last two years, Indonesia has seen a mushrooming of new
publications which take advantage of the advent of a free press
era. Inevitably, some of these have turned to pornographic or
semipornographic material. They are stretching the limits and
testing society's level of tolerance. Matra's case came to the
forefront when several religious organizations decided enough was
enough last year and took to the streets to demand the government
clamp down on magazines considered to have violated society's
norms and sense of moral decency.

Even in this era of a free press, the Criminal Code still bans
the dissemination of pornographic material. The police,
prosecutors and the courts still have to interpret and enforce
the code. But rather than taking the initiative, the authorities
seem to have acted only when under pressure. And it is Matra they
picked on when they could have chosen dozens of other
publications which have blatantly violated society's sense of
propriety.

Any government war on pornography should not be limited to the
print media when there are other medium through which pornography
has made inroads. The police have yet to come to grips with the
open sale of pornographic VCDs in many parts of Jakarta and other
major cities. The authorities have not even began to look for
ways of stopping the dissemination of pornographic materials
through the Internet, a problem that even the most developed
countries like the United States are still grappling with.

In Indonesia, as in other countries which uphold free speech,
the pornographic business is riding on the back of the free press
and those who trade in it would not hesitate to invoke the right
to freedom of expression in protecting their money-spinning
businesses. Many protesters against pornography have also often
blamed the unlimited freedom that the press enjoy for this
condition.

For better or worse, the government must continue with its
campaign to fight pornography on all fronts. But any campaign
against pornography must not infringe on people's right to
freedom of expression. There in all probability lies the
challenge for the authorities. Judging by the way the Matra case
was handled, they have not done a good job of it so far.