News
Pornography Law ‘limits women’s basic rights’
Ahad, 9 Agustus 2009 | 03:05 WIB
Jakarta, NU Online
The Pornography Law will slash women’s freedom of expression and attempts to implement it will be useless as many groups in society will continue to reject it, a seminar concluded here Wednesday.
Therefore, the speakers at the seminar, held by the a number of civil society groups, all demanded that the Constitutional Court annul it, or at least, amend contentious articles that violate human rights.<>
Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto, a former member of the Human Rights Commission, said the Pornography Law problem essentially rested on the restriction of freedom.
“The law limits society’s freedom of expression, especially for women. As a husband and a father of three daughters, I want them to have choices on how to express themselves. I took part in the Pornography Law judicial review because I want my children and my grandchildren to have choices in life,” he was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.
The Pornography Law will also fail to protect victims of pornography, said Sri Nurherwati, the coordinator for legal affairs at the Women’s Legal Aid Foundation on Wednesday.
“The law does not have a procedural system to help the victims of pornography,” she said during the discussion.
Various stakeholders have asked the Constitutional Court to review the Pornography Law. The last hearing on the issue was held in May and the session will recommence after the Court has completed the presidential election judicial review.
Sri said the law would probably be useless as it would be hard for the government to make any regulations to implement it.
“Because the law has been resented by so many society stakeholders, making regulations based on it will be unlikely. This can already be seen by the fact that, up to now, there have been no regulations made based on the Pornography Law,” she said.
Seno Gumira Adjidarma, a popular writer, expressed a similar opinion. “The law will always be resented, and it will be interpreted in ways that will not incite condemnation. I believe the law will be continuously reviewed and, in the end, it will be eliminated,” he added.
Seno said that the restriction of pornography had not succeeded in reducing the rape case rate.
“As far as I know, countries which give more freedom to pornography have fewer rape cases compared with countries which ban it. Most rapists admit that their crimes were not triggered by pornography,”
he said.
The law was also considered weak because of its very loose definition of pornography that could be interpreted in many ways, which would lead to uncertainty in the law.
“For example, there is a part of the law which stipulates that people must not trade in items which give the perception of nudity. How to define perception? Since everyone has a different perception, this part of the law is very unclear,” Sri said.
She added that the law could cause conflict as it allowed anyone to stop the spread of pornography, citing the case of the row between former first lady Sinta Nuriyah and former Betawi Brotherhood Forum chairman Fadloli El-Muhi in 2006 as an example.
“He called her an ‘immoral woman’ because she took part in the movement which rejected the law. This is an example of what would probably happen if everyone felt entitled to judge other people’s morality using this law’s definition of pornography,” she said. (dar)
The Pornography Law will slash women’s freedom of expression and attempts to implement it will be useless as many groups in society will continue to reject it, a seminar concluded here Wednesday.
Therefore, the speakers at the seminar, held by the a number of civil society groups, all demanded that the Constitutional Court annul it, or at least, amend contentious articles that violate human rights.<>
Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto, a former member of the Human Rights Commission, said the Pornography Law problem essentially rested on the restriction of freedom.
“The law limits society’s freedom of expression, especially for women. As a husband and a father of three daughters, I want them to have choices on how to express themselves. I took part in the Pornography Law judicial review because I want my children and my grandchildren to have choices in life,” he was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.
The Pornography Law will also fail to protect victims of pornography, said Sri Nurherwati, the coordinator for legal affairs at the Women’s Legal Aid Foundation on Wednesday.
“The law does not have a procedural system to help the victims of pornography,” she said during the discussion.
Various stakeholders have asked the Constitutional Court to review the Pornography Law. The last hearing on the issue was held in May and the session will recommence after the Court has completed the presidential election judicial review.
Sri said the law would probably be useless as it would be hard for the government to make any regulations to implement it.
“Because the law has been resented by so many society stakeholders, making regulations based on it will be unlikely. This can already be seen by the fact that, up to now, there have been no regulations made based on the Pornography Law,” she said.
Seno Gumira Adjidarma, a popular writer, expressed a similar opinion. “The law will always be resented, and it will be interpreted in ways that will not incite condemnation. I believe the law will be continuously reviewed and, in the end, it will be eliminated,” he added.
Seno said that the restriction of pornography had not succeeded in reducing the rape case rate.
“As far as I know, countries which give more freedom to pornography have fewer rape cases compared with countries which ban it. Most rapists admit that their crimes were not triggered by pornography,”
he said.
The law was also considered weak because of its very loose definition of pornography that could be interpreted in many ways, which would lead to uncertainty in the law.
“For example, there is a part of the law which stipulates that people must not trade in items which give the perception of nudity. How to define perception? Since everyone has a different perception, this part of the law is very unclear,” Sri said.
She added that the law could cause conflict as it allowed anyone to stop the spread of pornography, citing the case of the row between former first lady Sinta Nuriyah and former Betawi Brotherhood Forum chairman Fadloli El-Muhi in 2006 as an example.
“He called her an ‘immoral woman’ because she took part in the movement which rejected the law. This is an example of what would probably happen if everyone felt entitled to judge other people’s morality using this law’s definition of pornography,” she said. (dar)
