23 July 2010

"To Laugh or To Cry" that is the question?

Sometimes in my internet news travels I find myself shaking my head wondering whether any real thought has gone into what is unfolding before our very eyes.

This news piece (in Indonesian) caught my attention for no other reason than the utter hypocrisy and stupidity of it. Then again, perhaps I just do not get it, perhaps I just do not understand, and perhaps this plan makes things better.

It seems that there has been some discussion that the police are thinking of formalising Nazriel 'Ariel' Irham and Luna Maya's relationship by forcibly marrying them. The rationale here being that they have committed a sin by having pre-marital relations (sex to the rest of us). They are likely to be subject to 'social' sanctions for this offense. Now, some social relations wizard has determined that the only way to avoid this social sanction is to force the two lovebirds into marriage.

Nah, if this was a sin because they did the deed outside the binds of marriage, then how does forcing them to marry after the fact absolve them of the original "sin"? Can the marriage be back-dated to before the sex occurred? This is hypocritical and it is stupid. If these two want to get married then let them be the deciders of their own future. Perhaps if the wider community wants to sanction them, then perhaps it is time that this wider community had a good hard look at itself and thought about its priorities.

This case has been going on long enough. The police have to do their job, complete the investigation, hand off the case brief to the prosecutors, and move on. The prosecutors in turn have to do their job and get this thing prosecuted. Alternatively, a decision is made somewhere on the food chain here that Ariel, Luna Maya and Cut Tari are not going to be prosecuted because a conviction is unlikely, and let this case go, go out of the public eye.

I am forever the eternal optimist!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Rob,
Investigation of this case has been going on extraordinarily long.
I have a funny feeling that some people want it that way for reasons I am not sure, many people suspect it is to divert public attention from far more important matters.
Now the TVs and papers have another "toy" to play with: KD and her boyfriend Raul Lemos.

Rob Baiton said...

@ Harry...

Always the conspiracy theorist, eh? ;)

Are there more pressing matters to be dealt with? Without a doubt. Nevertheless, it might be argued that even if there was a plan to divert attention away from these more pressing matters by sensationalizing gossip and keeping it in the newspapers, tabloids, magazines and on the TV that Indonesians generally enjoy their gossip so it is not a particularly difficult task to divert their attention.

Maybe it is as simple as this gossip, and scandal like it, provides a welcome release from the daily grind of news on corruption and political ineptitude.

Yep, to KD and Raul...I have already posted on that :D

Silverlines said...

Marrying them off??
I didn't know this country has applied Sharia Law in all their provinces, because that's what they do in Aceh. Marrying a couple of teenager off if they are caught being alone, not necessarily doing any sex.

Now, where's my veil?

Rob Baiton said...

@ Silverlines...

I decided not to make the direct reference to Sharia law. I also resisted the temptation to pass comment on the increasing Islamization of the archipelago.

I was confident that sooner or later someone would come across this post and make those links and references.

In any event, shouldn't Allah be doing the judging here and not mere mortals such as ourselves?

How much longer before hands start to disappear for theft? It probably was a good thing that this did not happen in Aceh. They have stoning there, don't they?