Smoke and Mirrors

I may have posted something about this before but I wanted to go into it in a bit more detail. Let's clarify something, Indonesia is a conservative country, at least that's the official position anyway. But it's also a country on the cusp of big changes and will choose to go one way or the other. The current position, sat on the fence, refusing to choose one way or the other, is confusing and not unlike head + sand + burying.

In the far north west of Sumatra you will find Aceh province, an area torn apart by the 2004 tsunami and, as a way of stopping the decades long internal struggle, allowed to operate Muslim Sharia law. This means an extreme, and often somewhat bizarre point of view, when it comes to censorship, read the extract from a recent article in the Jakarta Globe to see what I mean...

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Extreme views are rife in the province where there are no cinemas, music concerts are few, and billboards depict females in headscarves.

“Women who don’t wear headscarves are inviting men to touch their breasts,” said 47-year-old teacher Tarmizi Mohammad.

“I think we should enforce Shariah laws further and stone adulterers and chop off the hands of thieves,” he added.

But the morals police faced a setback in 2010 after two officers were jailed for gang-raping a woman in custody.

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Conversely, western influence is all-pervasive and can be seen in many aspects of Indonesian life. It nearly goes without saying that you can't drive more than a kilometer without seeing a reference to western fast food in the form of the ubiquitous 'Golden Arches' or other logo.

In the shopping malls, western brands are dominant and the UK is represented by Marks and Spencers, Debenhams, Top Shop and a newly opened Mothercare to name but a few.

On tv, western shows and movies are popular, if only as a way of learning the language and in music the likes of Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and Katie Perry dominate with a musical blandness that is all encompassing but with enough suggestiveness to capture imaginations, both young and old.

Interestingly, it is in the medium of tv/movies and pop music that this influence surfaces more and more. Teenagers are encouraged to emulate their idols in their forms of dress, speech and habits, rarely understanding the provocative nature of the lyrics of the song, dialogue of the movie and clothing choices. Walking along the street can leave you scratching your head as to the choice of t-shirt logos that the wearer (or more often the parents) are oblivious to. The most extreme example being an under-ten year old wearing a t-shirt reading " I'm a s*#t ".

A trip to the movies can leave one just as perplexed. On a recent visit to the cinema to watch The Lady in Black, I found a big percentage of the audience to be in the "under-ten" category, for what is, in essence, a Hammer horror movie. The same demographic can be applied to all movies with children being taken to watch the goriest horror and action movies. But that's alright though as the Indonesian censors remove all traces of romantic interest. Yes, decapitation is fine for all ages of viewing but Harry Potter giving his girlfriend a peck on the lips?? I think not, cinema patron.

I believe in personal censorship. If something is not to your taste then you have the option of an off button with the tv or walking out of a cinema movie. Checking with the myriad on-line write-ups can inform even the laziest person of what to expect.

It comes as no surprise then to find this position being used as a political weapon aimed at confusing the public. This extremely obvious attempt at political sleight of hand is being used by the government to distract the populace away from the more important matters of the day. Any regular reader of this blog knows that this country is beset by many issues, including corruption, transport, pollution and poverty. So, with this in mind what do the government focus on? Well here's a headline that has dominated the news recently, nearly at the expense of all other news. It's certainly what alot of people are talking about ...


Indonesia's Anti-Pornography Task Force Considers Short-Skirt Ban

quickly followed by this.......

House Speaker Says Indonesia Should Focus on 'Mini-Brains' Not 'Mini-Skirts'

So now all of the people who were looking at the current President and his inability to answer the big issues, are distracted by the debate over skirt length. Clever if you think about it.....

There are many aspects of Indonesian life which seem, at first glance, to be odd. This applies when reversed and Indonesians look at western culture too. I am old-fashioned enough that I don't want the UK to lose it's heritage and I understand that Indonesia is the same. I just don't believe that extremism and the forcing of views on others is the way to go about it and I seriously belive that it is a weak government that would use it as a 'smoke and mirrors' policy to blind people to the most compelling problems.