An Indonesian Publisher has obtained license to publish the Indonesian version of Playboy. The magazine is scheduled to launch sometime mid-2006.
Thie publishing of this magazine arose protests and negative response from many Islamic leaders and organizations. Eventhough the magazine is targeted only for adults and will not be sold in newspaper stands, it is still feared that children will have access to the magazine, but above all that it is feared that it will have negative impact on the morality of Indonesian in general.
The controversy is also hot on the cyberspace. The “YES TO Playboy Indonesia” online petition was created, and immediately countered by the “NO TO Playboy” online petition . Find out the current standings here (for pro), and here (for against) .
I don’t know about “devastating” the citizen morality (i think that’s a li’l bit exaggerated), but I prefer to see this issue from a cultural point of view. The Indonesian culture, is I’m sure similar to that of other Asian (Eastern) countries. Talking about culture is talking about tradition. Tradition is a mode of thought or behavior followed by a people continuously from generation to generation .
Now, what is pornography?
Sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal. (www.dictionary.com)
Is sexual arousal a bad thing? Of course not. It becomes a bad thing when a person takes this arousal further into a negative action, like rape, molestation, or any kind of sexual harassment. Now that’s the real crime. However, I do believe that escalation of sexual arousal most of the time has a lot to do with pornographic content. Afterall that’s the “purpose” of pornography. Arousal is what could drives a 70-year old man to rape his grandaughter; or what drives an 11 year old boy to rape his friend’s little sister.
In the traditional Indonesian culture, sexual desire is something that is kept very secret and taboo to talk about. Islamic teachings also commands that muslims control their sexual desires and not be easily aroused.
Now other people may see it as art or high quality journalism. That may be. But for me, I think the reason why people buy Playboy (and alike), is its pornographic content. As long as the magazine falls into the hands of its market target, fine by me. The thing is I don’t yet believe in law and regulation enforcement in Indonesia.
I think that freedom of expression is limited by other people’s rights. When others are “disturbed” by one’s freedom of expression, perhaps one should look again whether one is still “just expressing one’s self” or “starting to disturb others”.
I say NO to Playboy Indonesia (and magazines alike). It just doesn’t feel right.
