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Aceh Broadcast Censorship Plan Rankles Critics
Ismira Lutfia | March 04, 2010

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Jeanne Hachette
11:10am Mar 5, 2010

Welcome to the green Khmers and the cultural genocide.

welliam
9:13am Mar 5, 2010

Welcome back to the stone age!

padt
8:57am Mar 5, 2010

I recently watched a movie made over 50 years ago (The Sound of Music) with some Indonesians. In one scene, a young 17 year old boy innocently kisses a young 16 year old girl. My Indonesian friends watching this hooted and screamed with delight - as if they were watching something forbidden: 'naughty, but nice'.

While their naive delight was amusing - even charming - I couldn't help but think: "What planet are these people living on?"

On the one hand many Indonesians consider any public display of affection to be an offense against morality, yet on the other hand some Indonesians think nothing of burning down shopping Malls, raping Chinese women, murdering activists, throwing bodies into rivers and generally lying about or denying their recent history. As for corruption in all areas of public and private life - well, that's a national past time, isn't it? But no one seems serious about forbidding these activities.

Near where I live is a rendezvous place for young people. They sit around on the grass at the weekends openly holding hands with arms around waists and doing what young, romantic couples do. Its one little sign of hope that not everyone in this country is prepared to listen to nonsense from some dangerous Islamic leaders.

I fear Aceh will deteriorate into a state of terror with corrupt mad men and women running the show. When this is allowed to happen because good people stand by and do nothing you will end up with a serious problem on your doorstep. Don't be fooled by these people. They are concerned with power and people's dignity and rights will be trampled underfoot in the process. Aceh will become one huge prison, and the inmates will be the ordinary people and the jailers will be their so called leaders. Look at Iran; look at China; look at North Korea; look at Russia; look at Zimbabwe; Look at Nazi Germany. All these places had or have censorship by an elite leadership supposedly to protect the citizens and the morality of the country. Rubbish! Its a grab for power and nothing else. These 'leaders' care nothing for the people.


Roland
11:25pm Mar 4, 2010

So what about people of other (of course only official!) religion living in this Province! They are condemned too to watch only censored TV?

jacobian64
11:08pm Mar 4, 2010

I knew this would happen in aceh.first they will try to restrict the TV program and after that they will try to censor any website on the internet.I think aceh is turning into something like iran did. well I am glad I did not live in aceh anymore. :-)

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The Aceh office of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission has proposed a draft of the province’s broadcasting qanun , or bylaw, that will be used as a standard to censor films, TV and programs to ensure they adhere to Islamic law.

The draft, however, received strong opposition from the local branch of the Independent Journalists Association (AJI), which objected on the grounds that the proposed measure violated press freedom laws.

Mukhtaruddin Yakob, head of the local branch of the AJI, said the draft had been submitted at the end of January to the governor’s office for preliminary review.

“The proposed qanun is inconsistent with the [national] Press Law and the Broadcasting Law,” he told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.

Mukhtaruddin said the qanun would require inappropriate censorship of the program content of broadcasters operating in the staunchly Islamic province.

However, he said the draft did not specify whether the censorship will only apply to Aceh-based broadcasters or also cover content from national media outlets.

The proposed bylaw would require radio and television stations to broadcast live the obligatory weekly prayer on Fridays and prohibit them from airing crime reconstructions, obscene material and sexual harassment cases.

“It also bans broadcasters from airing fund-raising efforts that are not in the Muslims’ interests,” Mukhtaruddin said.

Under the qanun, movies, television shows (including soap operas and documentaries) and commercials would be subject to censorship by the Aceh Film Censorship Board and Aceh Film Advisory Board (Bapfida).

But Mukhtaruddin said the article of the draft bylaw regulating broadcast censorship could have multiple and nefarious interpretations because it also classified investigative news reports as documentary programs, which would be subject to review.

“Investigative reports are product of journalism, how can they be censored?” he said.

None of the members of the Aceh broadcasting commission were available for comment on Wednesday.

However, Aceh Governor Irwandy Yusuf told the Globe that the draft was an initiative from the local commission, which his administration must respect. “We are studying its substance and urgency,” he said.

A source in the administration suggested that the province had no need for such a censorship measure and the draft would likely never pass.

But if the local government endorses the qanun, it would make Aceh the first region in the country to impose censorship over broadcasting content.