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Activists on Thursday denounced the Anti-Pornography Law, saying it had been far too harsh on Peterpan frontman Nazril “Ariel” Irham and others like him, but too lenient on offenders such as disgraced lawmaker Arifinto.

“Ariel was jailed, as were 10 strippers in Bandung for [violating] the law,” said Gadis Arivia, a feminism and philosophy teacher at University of Indonesia.

“But Arifinto is at large and nobody’s going after him. It’s clear that this law is only targeting [undeserving] people, not at legislators or politicians or senior officials.”

Such arbitrary enforcement, she added, set a poor precedent for the country’s legislative and judicial systems.

Nazril was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in January for distributing pornography online, just months after videos of him having sex with his celebrity girlfriends were leaked onto the Internet.

Arifinto, a former member of the staunchly conservative Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) who helped pass the law, was caught watching an adult video during a House of Representatives plenary session, but escaped with a slap on the wrist.

He vowed to resign in the wake of the scandal, but has continued to show up for work at the House.

“It’s not the citizens who need to be protected from porn, but the legislators and politicians,” Gadis said. “This law is like a comedy film, where the ending was just like what we saw in Arifinto’s case, one of the legislators who supported the law [violated it].”

Gadis said Islamic groups, women’s groups and the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI) had also been vocal in their support of the law but silent on Arifinto’s offense.

Thamrin Amal Tamagola, a gender expert and sociologist at UI, said the biggest problem with the 2008 Anti-Pornography Law was how it was applied, which depended largely on how pornography was defined.

“This is a hard task for the police in interpreting what cases are subject to charges under the law,” he said, adding the police tended to arrest the wrong people.

Neng Dara Affiah, from the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), said among those “unfairly targeted” were artists such as West Java’s Jaipong dancers for their provocative routines.

“Even though traditional arts and culture are exempt from the law, their practitioners remain a target,” she said.

Komnas Perempuan published the book “Sexuality and Democracy” on Thursday to mark the anniversary of the law’s passage, which Neng said would serve to highlight its failings.

Gadis said the law hampered sexual freedom, which she said was regarded as a “state enemy.”