http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20060302.Q01&irec=0
Activists employ Internet to fight pornography bill I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali Balinese activists launched recently a public Internet campaign to express their opposition to the controversial "pornography" bill being deliberated at the House of Representatives (DPR). "The Internet is a powerful communication medium. It is fast, cheap and widely accessible, particularly for the island's middle class, the very target of this virtual campaign," I Made Marlowe said. Marlowe was one of the eight-member Bali delegation that flew to Jakarta on Feb. 21 to express their opposition to the members of the DPR's Special Committee on the Anti-Pornography Bill. The overbearing attitude displayed by the Committee's members during the hearing convinced the delegation that the opposition to the bill needed to be stronger and louder to arouse public support. "It seemed that the committee members had already made up their minds that regardless of the opposition from various corners of the country, they would continue processing the bill into a law," the chief of the Bali delegation, Ngurah Harta said. "Given the attitude, we then decided that street protests and public rallies were unavoidable. Public rallies are the most effective way to boost awareness on the issue and to jolt the local politicians into taking a stance on this issue," he added. Yet, to do so the delegation at least needs visible, initial public support. The delegation, comprised of some of the island's most respected figures, including religious leader Ida Pedanda Sebali Tianyar Arimbawa and scholar Prof. Dr. I Made Bandem, need to utilize the social and media network to get the message out across Balinese society. "Yet, we are quite aware of the limitation of a personal network. We see the Internet as one of the most promising ways to mobilizing public support," Harta reiterated. The task of conducting an Internet campaign fell to I Made Marlowe, the delegation's computer wizard. "It is easy to mobilize public support when they share your sentiment and believe in your cause. To reach such a situation, however, we must first educate the public on every aspect of the issue," he said. "Our major problems right now are that a large number of people still do not have any access to the content of the bill and to the reasons and reasoning of our opposition," he said. Marlowe then used a free service provided by www.blogger.com to set up a simple, virtual communication post. It was aptly named Jiwa Merdeka (literally meaning "free soul"). The site (http://jiwamerdeka.blogspot.com) has been in operation since Feb. 22. "Initially, we did not pay much attention to the graphics and layout of the site. We only focused on providing the public, in the fastest way possible, with the necessary written materials. Recently, however, we've started refining the visual side of the site," he said. On the site, people can read or download various texts, including the controversial bill, the Bali delegation's opposition statement and a list of the notable figures, who support the opposition, in addition to an enlightening paper on pornography by Prof. Dr. I Made Bandem. "Unfortunately, most of the texts are still in Indonesian. We are now still in the process of translating the key documents to English," Marlowe added. So far, the site has received various comments from Internet users. Most of the comments were supportive in nature. Yet, there are also some very extreme responses; such as the one urging the Balinese to secede from the Republic of Indonesia if the bill became a law. The site has already found an "Internet buddy" and ardent supporter in another blog (http://electronposts.blogspot.com). This site has stunning visual presentations accompanied with catchy taglines. This blog has explicitly and openly voiced support for Jiwa Merdeka and the struggle against the bill. Most of its recent graphic posts were dealing with this issue. The latest one portrayed an image of a human torso with an uncovered navel and a question: What's wrong with allowing my belly button to have a peek of reality?" Well, it must be so wrong that the law will impose a hefty fine up to Rp 1 billion (over US$100,000) and a prison sentence up to ten years for navel displays. "We expect that other webmaster and site owners will follow the Electronposts' move, supporting our site by placing a link at their site or by creating and posting content in tune with our struggle," Marlowe said. He added that he believed that once the Internet community fully realized the threat carried by the bill to freedom of expression, then the opposition movement would gain substantial momentum. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/aYWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Milis Wanita Muslimah Membangun citra wanita muslimah dalam diri, keluarga, maupun masyarakat. Situs Web: http://www.wanita-muslimah.com ARSIP DISKUSI : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wanita-muslimah/messages Kirim Posting mailto:wanita-muslimah@yahoogroups.com Berhenti mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Milis Keluarga Sejahtera mailto:keluarga-sejahtera@yahoogroups.com Milis Anak Muda Islam mailto:majelismuda@yahoogroups.com This mailing list has a special spell casted to reject any attachment .... Yahoo! 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