Ariel, Luna Maya, + Cut Tari...

Indonesia and porn, porn and Indonesia seem to go hand-in-hand, don't they? It never ceases to amaze me the level of hypocrisy that exists on this single issue. There are those jumping up and down waving the morality flag demanding that long jail sentences be handed down to people who find the need to film themselves doing the deed and then have this very deed find its way into the public domain. Yet, most surveys and other statistical data pegs Indonesia as one of the biggest consumers of porn on our little globe called earth.

I think Desi Anwar says it best in her opinion piece on the matter when she talks about moral censure, peeping toms and playing god. It is worth a read and you can find it here.

The realities here are that it is against the law, people know it is against the law, and they must certainly know that if they get caught then there is a pretty good chance that the relevant law enforcement agencies will go the whole nine yards to get a conviction. This seems particularly so if you happen to be a celebrity. Ariel, Luna Maya, and Cut Tari are going to find this out in the most public of ways. One arrest has been made and another two seem imminent. The Porn Law and the Criminal Code are destined to get a work out on this one.

It really is sad that this is being played out in the way that it is. There are just so many more important things that politicians could be doing rather than legislating morality. There is in a similar vein so many more important things that the police and other law enforcement agencies could be dealing with rather than a couple of starlets getting the once over by a singer who seems to be afflicted with a little bit of the "Don Juanism" condition.

However, it must be noted that none of this is surprising on any front. All of us who are either Indonesian or who have long associations with the place understand that Indonesians have an insatiable appetite for gossip, particularly celebrity gossip. Indonesian TV is testament to that. We also know that the politicians and law enforcement people often look for any good gossip in order to deflect attention from real issues that need real work and real responses to see them resolved.

Yes, the reality here is that you have a couple of sex videos, pretty tame by most accounts, and nothing to write home about. Yet, it is news that has diverted the attention of a nation, and seen the story picked up by the international press. On the importance scale, the size of Ariel's penis, his sexual prowess, or the preferred methods associated with any climax activity, ranks, at least in my opinion, a very distant last on a long line of really important issues such as the systematic attempts to dissolve the KPK from its current form, the failure of parliament to speed up the legislative process, or myriad of other issues. Then again, I am sure that it will not be too long before we are hearing that Ariel's escapades have directly contributed to an earthquake or a tsunami or some other natural disaster that befalls the innocent in Indonesia. Sad!

As a matter of priority, it is time that people thought about the things that are really important and worked towards resolutions on those fronts.

Then again, good gossip and a sex video is something that most people just need to talk about!

Driving and Licensing in Indonesia

Anyone who has traveled on an Indonesian road has probably wondered how a driver's license is obtained here or just simply thought that it came in a corn flakes box. Nevertheless, the theory is that there is supposed to be a theory test and this is supposed to be followed by a practical test. This is the theory but it is not always the reality.

However, in a pilot project being run in Semarang the National Police are trialing and AVIS system. AVIS is an Audio Visual Integrated System. The system is in use in a number of other countries including Indonesia's former colonial master, The Netherlands. It is The Netherlands that is playing the major funding and support role in trialing this technology in Indonesia.

Apparently, Semarang was chosen because it has the highest number of traffic accidents of any place throughout the archipelago.

The AVIS requires an applicant to answer 30 questions. The answers are simple true or false and require nothing more than the press of a button. To pass the AVIS you must score 60%. By my reckoning that means you can get 12 answers wrong and still pass. Once you pass the AVIS then you can continue onto the practical driving test. If you fail, then you have to wait 14 days before being granted another crack at the test.

In a recent demonstration only 12 of the 30 applicants who took the test were able to pass. This translates into a 40% success rate. Now, if these results were to hold true in the general population and the police required everyone to sit the test at their next license renewal then conceivably there could be 60% less drivers on Indonesian roads than there are presently. This would mean that Jakarta traffic would look like what it will over the next couple of days, every day. The mass exodus from the capital for the Eid celebration is well and truly underway.

The police seem to think that AVIS will not only ensure better drivers because of improving standards but it will also make the whole process of issuing a drivers license a whole lot more transparent. If I was a betting man this would be an interesting bet to make. The idea that AVIS will work as a reducer of the amount of corruption within the police force with respect to the issuing of licenses. A better mechanism might include spinning off the whole driver licensing process from the police and place it in a Directorate General at the Department of Transport.

The traffic accident data from 2006 shows that there were almost 90,000 accidents throughout the archipelago. These accidents resulted in some 15,000 deaths and some 82,000 injuries. This means that at least one person died for every six accidents recorded. The data also highlights that almost every accident that was recorded almost inevitably resulted in an injury.

More alarming though is the 2007 data which shows a significant decrease in the number of accidents recorded but an increase in the number of deaths. In 2007 there were some 48,000 accidents but some 16,500 deaths. This means that there was a fatality recorded for every three accidents.

With accident data like this then anything that ensures higher driving standards is a welcome relief.

Colombia & Cocaine

Good news for some and bad news for others as Colombia's National Police Chief, Oscar Naranjo, tells an anti-drug summit that Colombia's share of world production has fallen form 90% in 2002 to around 54% today.

That is a significant drop for sure and it must be hurting the drug cartels based in Colombia. Yet, my guesstimation would be that what is lost on the merry-go-round is made up on the swing. Someone else is more than likely picking up Colombia's slack.

What the reduction does say though is that the police in Colombia are having success in their crop eradication efforts, the removal of drug laboratories, and the prosecution of drug bosses. This has seen more than a million hectares of drug crops destroyed. In another success story more than 74 tonnes of cocaine has been seized in the first three months of 2008.

I still wonder about legalization and take the black market out of the trade. Another debate for another post, I suppose!

Bali Gubernatorial Election -- Administrative Law Issues

Legal issues and elections in Indonesia are not a new phenomenon and it seems that the Bali Gubernatorial election is not going to be an exception. One of the candidates is someone most Indonesians and many Australians will be familiar with I Made Mangku Pastika.

Pastika was the point man for Indonesia in the aftermath of the first Bali Bombings.

The legal issues here are not so complicated. Nevertheless, there seems to be some confusion about exactly what status Pastika must have before he can legally run as a candidate. The issue is that Pastika is a currently serving police officer. Technically, current police officers, members of the armed forces, and civil servants cannot run for elected office while maintaining their employment status.

The argument focuses on the National Police Law which some legal commentators suggest requires Pastika to resign permanently from the National Police Force before seeking elected office. In contrast the local Balinese ordinance only require that the prospective candidate resign temporarily from their position. This is based on a Regional Election Commission Circular issued in Bali, No. 5 of 2008, which only requires a temporary resignation.

Pastika has temporarily resigned from his position in the National Police Force as Head of the National Narcotics Agency and has a letter to that effect from the National Police Chief, General Sutanto.

The General Election Commission for Bali is standing firm that it only needs to apply the relevant election laws and does not have to consider any of the provisions contained in the National Police Law. However, there are arguments being put forward that the National Police Law is lex spesialis and therefore trumps any general legislation. Therefore, the National Police Law must be applied because it regulates specific issues relating to serving police officers intending to seek elected office.

However, if the General Election Commission of Bali maintains its current position and interpretation of the prevailing and applicable legislation, then it appears that Pastika will continue to seek the office of Governor of Bali.