Valentine's Day "Banned" Again in 2011...

The fact that the crotchety old white-robed backward looking Islamic scholars in various parts of Indonesia take the time to consider Valentine's Day each year is testament to the pervasive nature of the celebration. However, the vast majority of Indonesians have too little time to take stock of fatwas and other edicts issued banning Valentine's Day. The vast majority probably do not do anything out of the ordinary. It is just another day in a busy calendar.

It seems that Valentine's Day falls foul of the defenders of truth and the ways of the Prophet because it is a Western celebration of love. And, that is haram or forbidden in Islam. I wonder if it is dangerous because it is thought to be a western tradition and those western kafirs would do anything they could to undermine Indonesia or is it just that because it is about love it might promote promiscuity and, heaven forbid, free casual sex. I have been told there is no aphrodisiac quite like a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates. But, that said, as Forrest used to say: "life is like a box of chocolates, you never quite no what you're gonna get".

Traditionally, the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) have banned Valentine's Day on the basis that it is the same as proselytizing.

My guess is that most Indonesians will take no notice of the warnings and go about their daily lives as they would have if no fatwas were issued. I am also thinking that Cupid will not be deterred either come 14 February.

Ho hum...

Indonesia to Ban Blackberries?

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have moved to ban Blackberry messaging, email, and web browsing services. The belief is that the way Research In Motion (RIM), the owner of Blackberry technology, encrypts this information is a serious threat to security.

The suggestion is that terrorists can use Blackberries to wreak havoc and mayhem. Alternatively, this may just be a case of "big brother" wanting to ensure that it has access to every single thing that you do on your mobile.

Not wanting to be left behind in the draconian law stakes, Indonesia is mulling a ban on Blackberry services on the grounds of security. The Indonesian Telecommunication Regulation Authority (BRTI) will be taking the lead in determining whether a ban should be put into place. The idea of a ban is not surprising, and the "national security" card was expected at some point. The move to ban Blackberry services is just part of a much broader assault on the freedoms of ordinary Indonesians to go about their business without government interference.

It should not be to long before all houses are built with glass or perspex walls and curtains are banned in the interests of national security. After all, terrorists might plan their heinous crimes in darkened houses with drawn curtains, and heaven forbid (even with 72 virgins awaiting for some) we cannot have that!

But, on a more serious note, and Blackberry related, it is estimated that there are some 1.2 million Blackberry users in Indonesia. The vast majority of these users are law abiding citizens using their devices for business or pleasure (such as social networking or downloading Indonesian celebrity sex tapes). A ban on Blackberry is likely to encounter stiff resistance, and not only from those downloading porn, but from regular Indonesians who rely on Blackberry services to go about their business. The plan, if it is such, will also harm business and presumably impact on investment.

Interestingly, Barack Obama still uses his Blackberry. My guess is that the encryption services offered by RIM are only the tip of the iceberg on his Blackberry. I would reckon there were probably a couple of addition layers of encryption and other unknown state-of-the-art security features attached to his device.

As an aside, I will need to do a little research. It was not all that long ago that Indonesia was talking about ousting RIM and Blackberry from Indonesia by banning the devices (aka smartphones) if RIM did not open a representative office in Indonesia and go about setting up a mirror site in Indonesia to improve services and decrease end costs to Blackberry users. The research relates to whether that ever went ahead, as my understanding is that there is not a mirror site. I have not read about RIM opening a representative office. I do recall I wrote about this before, so I guess I go back into the RAB files and see what I can come up with.

Anyway, to all my Indonesian followers, friends, and colleagues who are Blackberry users....Big Brother is coming!

Energy Drinks To Be Banned In NSW?

One would think that the NSW Government has more pressing matters than the total banning of energy drinks, then again perhaps not. There has recently been a report that a number of Year 7 students suffered some side effects after drinking the energy drinks on their way to school. It is alleged that these energy drinks caused the youngsters to suffer a little dizziness and nausea.

The government's reaction, ban them! Unfortunately, for the NSW Government, these drinks are usually registered as a dietary supplement at the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). So, the simple conclusion is that under Australian law these drinks are legal despite the high levels of caffeine that they include.

The Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, has stated that the NSW Government is looking into ways that the drinks can be banned and removed from the shelves. This is not going to happen anytime soon. A much better approach would be to reclassify the beverages concerned so that they may only be purchased by individuals over 18 years of age. Therefore, anyone selling them would be required to ask for proof of age before making a sale.

The science suggests that some of these drinks contain 12 to 15 times the recommended level of caffeine in terms of intake. However, the fact that these drinks have been registered as dietary supplements would also suggest that they are not dangerous. Nevertheless, this clearly requires a caveat, namely: anything that is abused can be dangerous. Excessive drinking of alcohol is dangerous, for example.

To suggest that there is anecdotal evidence that energy drinks are dangerous is a little bit on the simplistic side, as there would be an equal amount of anecdotal evidence that suggests that even greater levels of consumption than those noted do not cause any specific side effects.

It will be interesting to see whether this blows over or whether the NSW Government goes all out in order to not only restrict the sale of energy drinks but to ban them altogether.

Minister of Communication and Information, Fitna, and Circulars

A rather innocuous looking letter from the Minister of Communications and Information regarding the blocking of sites and blogs that host and show the film produced by Geert Wilders, Fitna, is a letter that has serious consequences for those of us that use the Internet as a means of communication.

The letter itself is based on Article 21 of the Telecommunications Law (No. 36 of 1999) which prohibits the broadcasting of material that impacts negatively on relations between religions and harmony (in the public order sense). Article 21 permits the government to suspend telecommunication providers activities if they broadcast, or continue broadcasting, after being informed that certain material is objectionable.

The Telecommunications Law itself does not explicitly state how the government is to do this and whether a Circular is within the scope of the provision. There is probably a sustainable argument that Circulars in the legislation sense are not binding or would require other legislative instruments to give full force and effect to the intent of the Circular. The cynics among us might just view this as appeasement of those clamouring for Fitna to be banned and for Wilders to be punished for his alleged blasphemy.

This letter was not issued based on any of the provisions of the recently passed Information and Electronic Transactions Bill.

It is beyond the scope of this post to debate the merits or lack thereof of Fitna. However, the Minister of Communication and Information has established a precedent of how it intends to respond to objectionable material, and that is to restrict it as far as possible.

Unfortunately, it seems that some Internet providers and network access points have decided to completely block access to certain sites. Some has gone as far as to completely block access to You Tube, My Space, Meta Café, Rapidshare, and other sites in order to comply with the Minister’s letter. This seems a little extreme as by completely blocking access to a site means that ‘all” the material is prohibited from entering Indonesia and this is clearly not the intent of the original instruction from the Minister.

It seems that businesses have decided that there is less impact on their bottom lines by blocking the whole rather than putting in place a filter that potentially could slow down their system functions and capabilities.

The other consideration is that those with a real interest in the film have already downloaded it and could conceivably host it locally or attach it to a mass email in order to distribute it. The letter and response from a number of telecommunications companies highlights the difficulties that the government and providers will encounter in selective blocking of sites and material.

For subscribers of providers that have blocked access completely to certain sites it is unclear what recourse they might be able to follow in order to restore partial access to material that has no relationship to the banned film.

This may not be enough to stir serious debate on future censorship of the Internet in Indonesia but it is certainly food for thought for those businesses that conduct or rely heavily on the Internet in the performance of their respective businesses.

The letter was issued on 2 April 2008.

As a postscript to this issue.

The government has already backed down with regards to the generalized blocking of sites. However, it would seem that some providers are still trying to work out ways in which to block material. I know from personal experience that Telkom speedy has been tinkering with its services as I am periodically blacked out from blogspot.com. However, the last few days the tinkering has resulted in not much more than overall bad service as Friday and Saturday have seen sporadic connectability!

Ahmadiyah to be Banned

Religious freedom in Indonesia is about to take a step backwards with the Office of the Attorney General about to issue a decision prohibiting members of Ahmadiyah from practicing their faith. In fact the prohibition goes further than just prohibiting the practice but must in fact be construed as a decision to criminalize a religion and the practice of its fundamental beliefs.

The faith itself is not new (much newer than the Islam from which it derives) and neither are the claims that it is a heretical faith and a distortion of true Islam. The main problem was a claim that the individual that established the faith, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (picture borrowed from Wikipedia), claimed to be a prophet. Islam tends to teach that Muhammad was the last prophet of Islam so anyone that messes with that one is likely to come under some scrutiny! This is in spite of a 12-point denial issued by Ahmadiyah where they re-asserted that their teachings were not heretical but rather in conformance with traditional views of Islam.

The National Alliance for the Freedom of Religion and Faith (Aliansi Kebangsaan untuk Kebebasan Beragama dan Berkeyakinan / AKKBB) in a press conference today (14 April 2008) called on the Office of the Attorney General not to criminalize Ahmadiyah and their faith because Indonesia was a country based on the rule of law and the Constitution. The inference here is that Indonesia is not a country based on the rights or interests of certain groups wanting to dictate debate and action.