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A Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker under fire for apparently watching pornography during Friday’s plenary session in the legislature may be dismissed as a lawmaker if it is proven.

Nudirman Munir, the deputy chairman of the House’s Ethics Council, told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday that he doubted Arifinto’s claim that he had unknowingly opened an e-mail containing links to pornography on his tablet PC.

A series of photographs taken by Media Indonesia photographer Mohamad Irfan shows Arifinto selecting a pornographic film from a folder in his tablet, rather than opening an e-mail link.

Ali Maschan Moesa, an Ethics Council member from the National Awakening Party (PKB), said its 11 members would launch an inquiry. “We should work under the  presumption of innocence,” he said. “[But] the punishment would be harsher if he is proven to have opened the video from a folder, not accidentally from an e-mail.”

The punishment, he said, could range from a written warning, removing Arifinto from all of his positions in the commission and in House bodies, a temporary dismissal or a complete dismissal.

The investigation will involve summoning Irfan as a witness along with his photos. But Ali said it would have to wait until May 9, after the recess period.

“It is a very serious violation,” Nudirman said. “He has violated Article 3, Paragraph 1 of the House Ethics Code that states that lawmakers are forbidden to behave in a way that might taint the dignity of the House. If he is sent to the ethics tribunal, there is only one possibility — dismissal.”

Irfan told the Globe on Sunday that the sight of a lawmaker opening a tablet PC during a plenary session caught his attention. When he saw Arifinto was opening a folder, he used a telephoto lens to take pictures. “It is clear he was opening a folder [to see the video], not from an e-mail,” Irfan said.

Nudirman urged the PKS to immediately consider Arifinto’s fate. The PKS is the country’s largest Islam-based party and was a vigorous and vocal advocate of the 2008 Anti-Pornography Law.

Nudirman added that if Arifinto felt guilty, he should resign instead of waiting to be dismissed, which would see him lose his rights to a former lawmaker’s pension and medical benefits.

Arifinto, who said on Friday after the photos were published online that the viewing was unintentional, could not be reached for comment over the weekend.

Yunarto Wijaya, a political analyst with Charta Politika, said that if the PKS refused to recall Arifinto, public response would likely be ugly. People would see this as hypocrisy on the part of a party that vocally champions “morality” but lets this “immoral” lawmaker go without sanction .

“If the PKS still has any dignity, it had better recall this lawmaker,” he said. “If it is proven that he downloaded the video or worse, had it saved in a folder, he could be charged under the Anti-Pornography Law.”

Storing pornography is an offense that carries a four-year jail term and/or a Rp 2 billion ($230,000) fine. Surahman Hidayat, the head of PKS’s Shariah board, said it would to talk to Arifinto to clarify matters as soon as possible. “Arifinto is only a human being. He also can make a mistake.”

Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring, a senior PKS official, said his ministry would help investigate, but added the ministry is not a law enforcement body. “Legal interpretation would be done by a judge,” he said.


Read the original story here.