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.

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?

Manohara Odelia Pinot -- Part X -- Stirring the Pot

I am certain that I am giving more attention to this story than it deserves, but it is interesting to observe the lives of the rich and famous from a safe distance. I have also been wondering how I might work the case if I had been tapped to be one of the lawyers (from either side). The gossip that surrounds this case and the unusual nature of how it is playing out post abuse is also interesting. However, the interesting parts also travel back in time to a period when young Manohara was nothing more than a wanna be model and an avid social climber willing to do whatever it takes to be one of the beautiful people that us mere mortals view in magazines like Indonesian Tatler.

I am not going to focus on Manohara's early life (perhaps if I ever find anything out about that I can make a post on that too), but rather her emergence as the girlfriend of Anindra Ardiansyah Bakrie or Ardi as he is known to his friends (photo courtesy of here). This relationship has been acknowledged by all, supposedly, and evidence of it exists in the pages of some of Indonesia's glossier magazines. This relationship (or was it just a friendship?) was ongoing in 2008 and up to at least the time Manohara's mother gave her approval for Manohara to marry the Prince.

What is interesting to me is not that the girl is 16-years-old and dating, but rather her mother has approved her dating a man some 13 years her senior. By all definitions she is a child. We are not talking about a situation where the age difference is between a woman of 37 and a man of 50. For me, in that scenario, they are both adults and can make the decision if they so desire. This brings me to my point of avid social climbers willing to do anything to get their mugs in the glossy mags. I am also wondering what interested a successful son of a billionaire to start dating a child? In any event Ardi has moved on and is now dating the 18-year-old Nia Ramadhani.

What would be more interesting is to wonder whether or not the relationship was sexual as this would open up a whole new Pandora's Box of possibilities.

After the failure of her relationship with Ardi, Manohara moved on with her mother's blessing to marry Tengku Temenggong Mohammad Fakhry, the Prince of Kelantan State. It sounds all like a fairy tale to me; moving on from the son of a rich man to marry a prince. I am sure that someone out there would think this to be social climbing. Others might think she just got lucky, like a young Australian woman from Tasmania who met and married a prince who also happens to be the future King of Denmark.

The wedding snaps of Manohara's nuptials with the prince show a pretty happy looking young girl (or should I call her a woman?). Manohara seems to have been accepted into the royal family and was granted title. Seems to be the real fairy tale so far. However, what happens next is pretty much well-documented in all manner of places, including at http://toughlane.blogspot.com/ which is a blog titles Truth Appeared and seems to be Malaysian in origin (interesting read).

The filing of the complaints in the respective jurisdictions of the parties has been discussed in an earlier post. However, it would seem that both Manohara and her mother, Daisy Fajarina, could do jail time if they were to be found guilty or fined.

I have read that Daisy Fajarina is subject to an 18-month jail term in France. It would appear that luckily for her Indonesia and France do not have an extradition treaty. However, if the Indonesian government is serious in taking up Manohara's case then it goes without saying that it would then be under pressure to extradite Daisy, with or without an extradition treaty in place. Simply, if you are going to take a stand on one then you will have to take a stand on both.

The final point I want to make in terms of stirring the pot is this; it has taken no time at all for Manohara to re-enter the Jakarta social scene. It has also taken no time for Daisy to milk this alleged abuse for all it is worth. The question is this, "what should be read into this post-abuse behaviour, if anything?" I suppose we each deal with trauma in our own way, and I am guessing that this is taking the idea of "if you fall of the horse then the best option is to get straight back on".

However, there is a part of my brain saying that the best course of action for a 17-year-old who has been subject to rape, physical abuse, kidnapping, and who knows what else, is to take some time out of the spotlight and get some professional help in order to process the things that have allegedly happened to her. Because, if the allegations are true, then this has been no fairy tale.

Fatherhood at 13 -- Scam?

A sordid tale of underage sex, scams, and money has led some to claim that young Alfie (photo courtesy of AFP) is not the father of the child that many claim him to be. It seems that there has been an elaborate scam in play by the parents to extract as much money for the story.

It seems that the mother of the child and supposedly the girlfriend of Alfie is allegedly vastly more experienced sexually than the original story would have us believe. There have been at least two other teenagers who have come forward to say that they have had sex with Chantelle on numerous occasions. One of them is even claiming to be the father because the kid has his eyes.

This can all be resolved with a few simple DNA tests. One to either unequivocally validate Alfie's claim to fatherhood and the others to determine actual paternity if Alfie is not the man (or boy).

You have to admit that the story of a 13-year-old kid out spreading his seed at such a young age is a far more interesting read than some 16-year-old horny apprentice chef getting his girl pregnant.