Blasphemy In Indonesia...

The Indonesian Criminal Code defines blasphemy in Article 156. The article is often used to control "deviant" sects and cults. Generally, deviant is any practices that do not conform to an accepted norm. Some of these sects or cults are just plain bizarre, but the more interesting part is probably that they attract followers or believers.

One such cult is the Satria Piningit Weteng Buwono or the Chosen Warriors from the Belly of the Earth. Agus Noro (aka Agus Imam Solihin) was found guilty of blasphemy by the South Jakarta District Court. The gist of the charges set out that the Noro led sermons in his underwear and required all his followers to participate in orgies. Noro had managed to gather some 35 people as followers of his faith.

However, the blasphemy charges related to his blaspheming of Islam. It seems that the biggest crime that Noro committed was to instruct his Muslim followers not to fast and pray at the times required under the tenets of the Islamic faith.

Ultimately, Noro was sentenced to two years and six months in jail. The presiding judge in the case, Judge Haryanto, said that the sentence was less than the five years demanded by public prosecutors because Noro had retracted his statement that he was the incarnation of God (or refused to accept the charge as laid out by the public prosecutors). This knowledge, or spiritual guidance, allegedly came to him in a dream. The dream or vision was provided by Indonesia's first president, Soekarno, back in 1999.

A meagre 35 followers hardly seems like a threat to the established base of Islam in Indonesia. The fact that in one of the world's largest democracies that people are still being jailed for their beliefs and the manner in which they believe in their god or gods shows that Indonesia still has some way to go. The expectation is not perfection, there are no states in the world that are perfect in this regard. However, considering the myriad of other problems afflicting Indonesia, it just seems that the resources dedicated to putting Noro in jail could be better used elsewhere.

Where the religious practices of organizing orgies and allowing minors to either participate or watch are breaches of the law, then it would have been possible to arrest, prosecute, and ultimately, jail, Noro without having to resort to the blasphemy card.

Interestingly, Noro chose to represent himself and without the assistance of counsel.

Women as Sexual Predators

It is most often the case if one was to start a discussion about sexual predators that the focus would be on men. However, it is not a case that only men are sexual predators but women prey on children sexually as well. The question is do we hold women to a different standard when it comes to sex crimes involving minors than the standard we hold men?

A story out of Pennsylvania in the US has shocked a suburban community where the alleged offences occurred. Two single mothers, on of who has two children of her own, have been charged with offences including statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, and the endangerment of a child, among other offences.

The story goes that one of the women, Lynne Long, was holding a slumber party at her home where the invitees were boys between the ages of 14 and 16. The other woman, Angela Honeycutt, is alleged to have had sex with a 14-year old and performed sex acts on a 15-year old. It is also alleged that Honeycutt showed her breasts, did some French kissing, talked dirty to the boys, and showered with another. The allegations against Long are that she listened in on the assaults and she watched the assaults occur. It is further alleged that Long told the boys not to say anything. In the above photo, Honeycutt is on the left and Long is on the right.

The crimes came to light when one of the boys told his parents the lurid details of the evening's activities.

Both women are now back in the community after having been released on bail.

The question is this, if these allegations were against two men having perpetrated these crimes against girls of the same age would they have been granted bail?

The other question is this, if we are serious about protecting our children from harm and sexual predators, then should people alleged to have committed such sexually predatory crimes be granted bail?