Miniskirts X-rated, claims Indonesia's porn taskforce

Michael Bachelard, Jakarta

March 30, 2012

Pornographic: 'You know what men are like. Provocative clothing will make them do things.'

INDONESIA'S religious affairs minister believes miniskirts are pornographic and should be banned under the country's tough new anti-porn laws.

In comments endorsed by the country's leading Islamic advisory body, Suryadharma Ali said ''one [criterion of pornography] will be when someone wears a skirt above the knee''.

Dr Suryadharma, leader of the United Development Party, was appointed earlier this month to run Indonesia's anti-porn taskforce, announced and supported by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

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Dr Suryadharma said that, before deciding what the taskforce would ban as pornography, it would consult widely to come up with ''a set of universal criteria''.

''Pornography is something that we can feel … but we have to make the criteria,'' he said, adding that wearing miniskirts would qualify. His comments were backed by the Indonesian Ulema Council , representing all Indonesia's Islamic groups.

''According to Islamic sharia [law], women not only have to wear long skirts but they have also to cover up all the private parts of their body,'' deputy secretary of the council's fatwa commission, Aminudin Yakub, told news website Detik.com.

Dr Suryadharma made no comment on how tourists in places such as Bali would be treated. A spokesman from his ministry told The Age there had been no directive yet on how the anti-pornography taskforce would counter offences.

Earlier this month, parliamentary speaker Marzuki Alie said he would draft rules banning female politicians and staff from wearing short skirts because they were distracting and that ''there have been a lot of rape cases and other immoral acts recently and this is because women aren't wearing appropriate clothes''.

''You know what men are like,'' he said. ''Provocative clothing will make them do things.''

The anti-pornography taskforce is widely seen as an attempt to distract the populace from issues such as corruption scandals around the Democratic Party of President Yudhoyono and the move this week to increase petrol prices.

Indonesians practise a generally liberal version of Islam, although there has been a move in the past decade or two for a more conservative interpretation. Women's groups and human rights activists have protested against the recent concentration on clothing.

A spokeswoman for the National Commission on Violence Against Women called the proposed miniskirt ban a violation of women's rights, adding sexual assault had nothing to do with either pornography or the length of women's skirts.

''Many women [who were] raped happened to wear very conservative clothing,'' she said. ''They were raped anyway.''

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In Indonesia, Miniskirts Are Pornographic

Miniskirts could qualify as pornography, Suryadharma Ali, Indonesia’s religious affairs minister, said Friday. His comments come as the Muslim country rolls out a series of stringent new anti-porn measures, a charge Suryadharma has lead as top cop on the government’s smut taskforce. “Pornography is something that we can feel,” Suryadharma told reporters, but legal lines have to be drawn. One such guideline, he said, is that pornography includes “when someone wears a skirt above the knee.” Suryadharma’s comments have been seconded by the Ulema Council, an advisory board that represents the country’s Islamic groups.

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March 30, 2012

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Bloomberg News Indonesia May Ask Foreign Miners to Offer Stake to Government

By Fitri Wulandari on March 29, 2012

Indonesia may ask foreign investors that are majority owners of mining companies to sell shares to the government to comply with a law that lowers their ownership, an energy and mineral resources ministry official said.

If the government declines, the stake can be offered to state-owned or private companies, Fadli Ibrahim, head of the legal division at the directorate general of minerals and coal, told reporters in Jakarta today. The guidelines will be ready this year, he said.

“This is a preliminary draft,” Ibrahim said, without specifying when the regulation will be issued. “We still need inputs to perfect it.”

Indonesia wants a greater share of mining profits and has asked foreign holders of licenses to cut their stakes to 49 percent within 10 years of starting production, according to a decree signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in February. A 2009 mining law mandated local ownership of at least 20 percent in ventures by the sixth year of production.

Shares can be offered through a tender if there is more than one bidder from among state or private companies, Ibrahim said.

Mining companies with majority foreign holders that plan to list on the stock exchange must complete the divestment before selling shares in an initial public offering, he said.

The regulation applies to companies with mining business licenses. Miners such as Vale SA (VALE5), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and Newmont Mining Corp. currently operate under contracts of work and need to apply for mining business licenses when their permits expire. 

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Indonesians rally over fuel price hike

Published: 29/03/2012

JAKARTA - Thousands of Indonesians rallied nationwide Thursday against a planned fuel price hike they say will cause great hardship, as the parliament prepared to vote on the proposal.

Indonesian workers chant outside the parliament during a rally against the government's plan to hike fuel prices in Jakarta. Thousands of Indonesians rallied nationwide against a planned fuel price hike they say will cause great hardship, as the parliament prepared to vote on the proposal.

The government says that with global oil prices soaring above $100 a barrel, the nation can't afford to maintain heavy subsidies, and parliament was expected to approve raising the fuel price by a third on Friday.

Demonstrations have occurred almost daily in recent weeks, sometimes turning violent, but turnout in the capital Jakarta Thursday was much lower than organisers had promised.

Around 14,000 police and 8,000 soldiers were deployed at key locations, including parliament house, the presidential palace and the international airport.

But only a few thousand protesters turned up, while across the country 26,500 people joined demonstrations in various cities, said national police spokesman Saud Usman Nasution, a modest number for a nation of 240 million.

"This is a  wicked government who doesn't care about the people's welfare," Irwan Saifullah, a 42-year-old teacher, told AFP outside the presidential palace.

"My kids will have to drink less milk and we'll all eat less rice," he said among protesters dancing around a truck blaring music. Around half of Indonesia's population live on less than $2 a day.

The government has said that without hiking the fuel price, the cost of subsidies will push the country's budget deficit above the three percent of GDP cap stipulated by law.

But disgruntled Indonesians have turned out to major cities across the country, fearing the hike -- from Rp 4,500 (49 cents) to Rp 6,000 per litre -- will push up prices of everyday items.

In Makassar city on Sulawesi island, around 1,000 students blocked several main roads and burnt a banner bearing pictures of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Local TV stations showed images of protesters outside local parliament in Pekanbaru city on Sumatra island hurling stones at police, who responded by striking crowd members with batons and letting off a water cannon.

Around 2,000 members of Hizbut Tahrir -- a prominent religious group in Indonesia which is the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation -- demonstrated outside the presidential palace in Jakarta.

Men wearing Muslim caps and women in headscarves chanted "Replace, replace this rubbish system" and carried banners saying "Reject the fuel price hike! Rulers are liars, wicked and traitors".

"Capitalism and imperialism will only put people in misery as foreigners have always exploited countries with rich natural resources like Indonesia," the group's spokesman Ismail Yusnanto said.

"Everything will become more expensive, which will create a burden. It just means misery,", added Nining Elitos, chairman of the Indonesian Trade Unions Alliance.

"Those with big families and children in school will suffer the most. The move will only cause social problems, raise crime rates and stress levels."

Planned mass rallies in the capital fizzled Tuesday, with 22,000 security personnel overseeing just 3,500 protesters. But almost 10,000 people showed up in other cities including Medan in Sumatra island and Surabaya in eastern Java.

Some rallies turned violent as hundreds of protesters pelted rocks, petrol bombs and sticks at police, who fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd

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