Syekh Puji: Sentenced to 4 Years for Pedophilia...

Pujiono Cahyo Widiyanto (aka Syekh Puji) has been sentenced to four years in prison for procuring a 12-year-old for a sexual relationship. Syekh Puji had been arguing that he had done nothing wrong in God's eyes nor under God's Laws as his 12-year-old bride had begun menstruating before he consummated the marriage.

Syekh Puji is a Muslim and believes that Islam permits his actions. The Syekh also believes that the laws of God are far superior to the laws of 'man'. Men do not have the right to punish him because he has not committed a crime in the eyes of God. The age of consent in Indonesia for females is 16-years-old. The law does not make any exceptions for early puberty or menstruation, or even parental consent.

Well, it would seem that despite his protestations to the counter, the judges of the courts of men (and women) in Semarang decided that the Syekh was in fact guilty of having sex with a minor, Lutfiana Ulfa. It goes without saying that Syekh Puji will appeal this decision. This was confirmed by O.C. Kaligis, the Syekh's lawyer. Kaligis is getting some varied and interesting work of late. Kaligis is also the lawyer for Ariel of Peterpan fame. Ariel is currently on trial in Bandung for his alleged role in the distribution of a couple of home-made sex tapes.

It will be interesting to see what the grounds for appeal are. The law is pretty explicit with respect to the age of consent. So, it is unclear at this point as to where the court may have erred in rendering its judgment.

Facebook in Indonesia...

Facebook would seem to be on a bit of a winner in Indonesia. Indonesians consider themselves to be super friendly people and always ready with a smile. This, I would agree, is generally true, Indonesia and Indonesians are friendly.This overt friendliness makes Indonesians really willing to get into the social networking that Facebook offers up to the masses of the world.

When one considers that Indonesia has a population of more than 230 million the potential market is huge even if there is only about a third of the population that are computer literate then, once again, it would seem that Facebook is onto a bit of a winner. According to Facebook, the Indonesian subscriber base increased a whopping 645% in 2008 to a mere 831,000. Plenty of room for expansion there.

Nevertheless, this winner is not going to be without its fun and games. It seems that some Indonesian imams meeting in Indonesia have an axe to grind with social networking sites like Facebook as they are deemed to be conduits of less than moral behaviour.

In fact, if the imams are to be believed then these social networking sites encourage free sex, sex before marriage, and other illicit behaviour. I am guessing the other illicit behaviour includes the posting of compromising or sexually explicit material to contacts made through the site.

The imams have decided that they are going to instruct their followers not to visit social networking sites. This will undoubtedly require the issue of a fatwa prohibiting all Muslims from visiting the sites. The belief is that social networking sites promote flirting and subsequently extra-marital affairs. It should be noted that fatwas are not legally binding and as such can be ignored. Nevertheless, some Muslims rely on religious scholars for direction in the practice of the faith and as such feel compelled to follow the tenets of any and all fatwas issued.

It is probably a fair assessment that some Facebook users use the site in order to "hook up" with others interested in some extra-marital (or perhaps pre-marital) action. However, most of the people that I interact with on Facebook use it for purposes that have no connection to flirting or desire for some supposedly sinful action on the side.

For me, the idea that there is a whole workshop or seminar for imams devoted to social networking and the sins that it might give rise to, indicates to me that these imams really do not have enough to do or their lives are just not full enough with other things. My guess is that any fatwa on Facebook is likely to lead to a large surge in Indonesians signing up to the site to see what all the fuss is about.

The Facebook logo was found here.