Whatever Happened to Playboy Indonesia?

Early this evening I was checking out my blog statistics. I sometimes do this to see who is looking for what, what pages people are viewing, what people are downloading off of my blog, and what sorts of search terms they are using to find certain posts. There is lots of handy software for this sort of thing.

Anyways, this little stroll into blog statistics alerted me to the fact that lots of people are using search terms to find images of Indonesian and Japanese women that have been in the news. However, a recent trend has seen people searching for "Playboy Indonesia". So, with that in mind, I thought perhaps a Playboy related post was in order (and some happy snappies that are freely available on the internet).

Indonesian Playboy Magazine had a short run. I can only recall three issues being published. Although, I have to admit I was not a regular purchaser of the magazine. In fact, my guesstimates on the number of issues is based on the number of different covers that were thrust up against the window of the taxi I was in when I was stopped at traffic lights throughout the city. To be honest, if one is looking for pornography in the printed form in Indonesia then my guess is that the toll gates over Kebon Jeruk way might be a good starting point. I recall a couple of taxi rides back from the Universitas Pelita Harapan campus, which takes you past these particular toll gates, and some interesting picture material thrust up against the window of the taxi and accompanied with, "Hey Mister, picture good, cheap, only 20 thousand!"

Oh well, enough of the reminiscing and back to the post. Playboy, at least the Indonesian version, seems to have faded into extinction. It might make a comeback one day. Who knows?

Nevertheless, the furore that it generated was interesting because it is the only Playboy magazine that I can recall that really was not a skin magazine. The pictures, and some are attached here, were really tame. Tame in the PG sense of tame. It is also the only version of Playboy magazine that when you said, "the only reason I bought a copy was to read the articles" was in fact the truth. The articles were generally OK. The pictorials left way too much to the imagination. There simply was no titillation whatsoever.

It was funny to watch people come out and claim that the magazine was all about pornography, and that even if the pictures were not pornographic that it was still porn anyway by reason of the name of the magazine. In any event, a couple of the models were pursued for a while and the editor was tried for being a purveyor of porn and other indecent material. As I recall, nothing much came of the pursuit of the models and the editor was eventually acquitted. In the trial of the editor the judges took time out in their decision to provide a bit of a rebuke of the prosecution case and how it was poorly thought out and constructed.

The anti-porn law should put paid to an eventual comeback, but one never knows. It would be an interesting test case for the law.

For those of you searching for "Indonesian Playboy" I am almost certain that this post will not satisfy your curiosity...keep searching! However, here are some happy snappies of Andhara Early and Joanne Alexandra from Playboy and other places. Enjoy!

The Pornography Law -- A Dead Document?

The Jakarta Post recently reported that Constitutional Law Expert, Irman Putra Sidin, saying, "How can we expect the law to be implemented when people and officials oppose it? Who's going to enforce it? It will end up as merely a dead document," based on the fact that at least four provinces were going to actively oppose the law and refuse to enforce it. Those provinces are Bali, North Sulawesi, Yogyakarta, and West Papua.

The rationale for this position is that if the law is not implemented nationwide then can it be valid anywhere. I would have thought that once the law was passed by parliament and enacted as law then it was the law of the land. Therefore, in a republic like the Republic of Indonesia, the law would apply everywhere.

A more interesting argument would be does the refusal to implement the law amount to the beginning of an act of secession? How far do the provinces want to push this? What sanctions could the State impose on rogue provinces that refuse to enforce state laws and regulations.

In fact this should be read as a preliminary movement towards seeking independence from the Republic of Indonesia. Quite clearly the intent of West Papua is to secede from the Republic if they are required to enforce the law. Andrikus Mofu, spokesperson for the West Papuan delegation said the following, "We will inform the international community of our aspiration and our intention to separate from Indonesia." This seems to leave little doubt where the West Papuan intentions lay.

The most likely course of action will be a Constitutional Court challenge to test the binding nature and legality of the provisions. The definitions of pornography and the manner that pornography is to be determined is arguably loose. Nevertheless, this is an issue that the Court will be asked to determine.

The reality is the laws of the land are to be applied and all are to be equal before the law. Special dispensation in one province compared to another means that there is no equality before the law and this is more likely to lead to problems than the enforcement of the law.

Of all the things that could trigger the disintegration of the Republic it is interesting that it is the Pornography Law that is being talked about as being this trigger.

The Pornography Bill Passes the DPR

The Pornography Bill finally passed the House of Representatives (DPR - photo) today. This brings to a close the debate on whether to enact the law or not. However, the passage was not without some fireworks with the PDIP and PDS factions walking out along with a couple of Golkar legislators.

The walkout might seem like it was a protest at the content of the bill. However, the walkout really stems from a belief that the procedural requirements for the passage of legislation were not met. Specifically, the claim is that the bill was never "socialized" to the community. This socialization is mandated by law. The walkouts also had some issues with the substantive matter of the bill too.

In terms of the substance the walkouts have issues with the definition of pornography and particularly the broad nature of it. Those that walked out cited for example that body movements could constitute pornography if they offended someone. This means that singer/dancers like Inul and Dewi Persik are likely to fall foul of the law.

This is particularly bothersome for the walk outs when it is combined with Articles 20 - 22. These articles are problematic because of the purported scope they give to the community to play a role in preventing the spread of pornography.

Anyways, the bill has passed and is now awaiting the signature of the President. We will soon find out whether this has all been a storm in a teacup or whether those with fears will see those fears realized.