Pedophilia vs. Distribution of Porn...

This must surely be an anomaly, right? Prosecutors are seeking to have Ariel jailed for 16 years for his alleged involvement in distributing a couple of home made sex tapes, yet the same office of public prosecutors are seeking a mere 6 years for a pedophile Muslim cleric. Go figure.

Does this mean that the distribution of pornography is a far more serious offense than pedophilia? Or is it that because Sheikh Puji has a legitimate argument that underage marriage is permissible in Islam thereby in some way mitigating the seriousness of the breach as it exists under state law?

These are serious questions for Indonesia to answer. It is high time that the president took the high moral ground and involved himself in these sorts of matters and made unequivocal statements as to what it means to be Indonesian. He should also stand up and say "sorry, but the sexual abuse of children is wrong! There is no excuse for it, there is nothing to mitigate the actions of a perpetrator, and anyone committing these crimes will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law". Hopefully, the full extent of the law is a little more than 6 years.

I have posted on Pujiono Cahyo Widiyanto and his marriage to Lutfiana Ulfa. A simple search of the blog will reveal those posts. Here are the essential facts as I recall them: he is 45-years-old and she is 12-years-old (at the time of the marriage), he owns and operates a Muslim Boarding school and uses that to call himself a cleric, he is wealthy, Lutfiana's parents had financial dealings and debts with him, he argues that God's law trumps the laws of man, and in any event she has reached puberty so in a medical sense she is no longer a child.

Perhaps prosecutors could use Article 5(3) of Law No. 1 of 1951 to prosecute the Sheikh as well?