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Gossip TV, Magazines Banned, MUI Rules
Nurfika Osman & Lisa Siregar | July 28, 2010

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eagleday
10:17am Jul 28, 2010

Another irony, Valkyrie: These ulamas, who always proudly present the history of Islamic golden age of reason and their contribution in modern science, now instruct their folks to be automatons.

Valkyrie
5:18am Jul 28, 2010

jetset24 - cheers! "Bottoms up"...oops.. could be haram eh? Don't we all know why no Fatwa out against corruption? Ho! Ho! Ho!....the most corrupted department title goes to the Ministry for Religious affairs. Isn't this a fact? Ironical ain't it?

jetset24
1:11am Jul 28, 2010

Welcome to Democracy where in this country, no one can actually make a personal decision to turn off bad TV programs, or choose not to read the gossip columns....MUI will make the decisive thinking for the people personally. Fatwa this Fatwa that...But Fatwa corruption is not an issue Period. Is it happy hour yet...I do need a strong drink for this one. LOL

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If you’re a devout Muslim it seems you are now expected to switch channels whenever a gossip show comes on TV and cancel your tabloid subscriptions.

The country’s highest Islamic authority has just declared infotainment forbidden.

“Infotainment is haram,” Ma’ruf Amin, the head of the fatwa body at the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), said on Tuesday. “Gossip involves exposing embarrassing details of someone’s private life to the public, and this is haram.”

Also forbidden, Ma’ruf explained, is profiting from it. “Profiting from broadcasting that news to the public is haram,” he said.

Ma’ruf said this did not mean all news about celebrities was forbidden. “When it is published in order to uphold the law, fight infidelity, warn people, report or ask for help, it is mubah [allowed but not recommended],” he said.

Infotainment was not originally scheduled for discussion at the ongoing MUI congress in Jakarta, but the fatwa body decided at the last minute to drop the issue of social security and take up the controversial topic.

The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) has recently classified infotainment shows as “non-factual,” which means they are not journalistic work and can therefore be censored.

Veteran journalist Ilham Bintang, a pioneer of the country’s infotainment industry, said he was not too worried. “I’m convinced that what the MUI meant by haram applies only to infotainment programs that contain ghibah [slander],” he said.