Maria Ozawa In Kidnapping Miyabi -- Cancelled

The reason for another Maria Ozawa (AKA Miyabi) post is simple. It allows me the opportunity to post a few more pictures (all freely available on the Internet) of her under the guise of a more serious discussion on the pros and cons of bowing to pressure from special interest religious groups.

Into the substance...

It seems that Maxima Pictures came under government pressure to abandon the idea of using Maria Ozawa in the lead role of the film "Kidnapping Miyabi". This is in spite of assurances from Maxima that they saw no reason to bow to any pressure despite the uproar and protests that ensued once it was announced that the Japanese porn star would be playing herself in the lead role.

The film is a comedy. Loosely the story is of a couple of horny college students with a Miyabi fetish deciding to kidnap her while she is on holiday in Indonesia. I am not sure that the premise of the film is all that good, but to each their own with respect to what sort of films one wants to make, and even more so with respect to what films people want to watch.

However, it would seem that the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (Majelis Ulama Indonesia / MUI) and the Islam Defenders Front (Front Pembela Islam / FPI) have coopted the Minister of Culture and Tourism to jump on board and pressure Maxima Pictures into retreating from their original plan. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come once the new film law gets up an running (assuming it survives in tact after any Constitutional Court challenge to its constitutionality).

The whole idea of the film Kidnapping Miyabi is to have Maria Ozawa in the lead role. The film just would not seem to work if you had an Indonesian actress playing the lead role. It would not work even if that Indonesian actress was a porn star in her own right. If Miyabi was to be replaced with one of Indonesia's more famous porn starlets, such as Jade Marcella, then the film may as well be entitled Kidnapping Jade. Maybe that is the way to go for Maxima.

However, it would be a reasonable guess to say that the MUI and the FPI would undoubtedly have a problem or two with that scenario as well.

In a more general sense, does this decision mean that foreign porn stars cannot even travel to Indonesia as tourists? Or is it just a simple case of foreign porn stars cannot be sponsored to work in Indonesia in any capacity even if it does not relate to their regular income generating employment? This is particularly so if the sponsored employment does not involve them "performing" their standard roles.

I wonder what does more harm to Indonesia's standing and reputation in the world; a Japanese porn actress acting in a comedy or the ongoing institutionalized corruption that plagues business and government or, perhaps, a regional ordinance that permits the stoning of adulterers and the caning of homosexuals?

A bit of a no brainer when you think about it.