Punk, Porn, Desecration

and the Rise of Religious Intolerance in Indonesia

Jonathan Zilberg, Ph.D.

Visiting Research Scholar

Universitas Islam Negeri, Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta

Presentation Delivered at Universita Degli Studi di Napoli, L’Orientale

Departimento Asia, Africa E Mediterrano

Ciclo di Seminari sull’Indonesia

October 15, 2013

Map of Emerging Sharia Legislation by 2006. Source, Tempo May 14

Places to note: Aceh, Jakarta (West Java) and Jambi (Sumatra)

Periods to note: Contemporary 2005-2013 and 7th – 13th Century.

Religions: Islam and Buddhism. Core Issues – Imagery and Interpretation

Punk, Porn and Desecration - From Aceh to Jakarta to Jambi

The map of Indonesia in the above slide provides a geographic and legal

context for this talk in that it shows the emergence of regional sharia legislation

by 2006. The map allows one to appreciate the scale of the attendant success

in the enactment of conservative agendas and the attendant rise of religious

intolerance experienced in the period 2005-2013, so much so that some

observers argue that we are witnessing an engineered sense of a moral crisis

for political ends. While it gives you a basic sense of the changing legislative,

cultural and political context, one first needs to keep in mind, the religious

fatwas against liberalism and pluralism which spearheaded this transformation.

Specific religious and political forces lead and collaborate to engineer, legislate

and enforce reformist religious agendas.

The ultimate question is this then: Is a rising hegemonic sense of

conservative national Islamic identity challenging both the original constitutional

charter enshrining pluralism known as Pancasila and thus eclipsing a prior

innately liberal national consensus?

Punk, Porn and Desecration: Discussion Points

The capture, persecution and re-education of punks in Aceh. Why?

An emerging culture of intolerance and a general sense of moral crisis

nationally. Why? And what consequences?

To be brief, why aside and for you to ponder, the type of consequences are:

Increasingly bold acts of intimidation and violence by forces enforcing “piety,”

closing down and burning churches and persecuting non-mainstream Islamic

communities while on the cultural front, more and more women wear the jilbab

as an overt identification and expression of Islamic piety. Pressure groups

consistently advance a transformational agenda by stopping concerts by

foreign artists like Lady Gaga, banning women from straddling motor bikes,

prohibiting the Miss Universe competition from taking place in Jakarta,

attempting to propose to enforcing virginity checks in Sumatran high schools,

and sometimes the bizarre, such as the program to annually measure youth

genitalia in Aceh. Generally, a trend exists to create and enforce all manner of

local bylaws intended to dominate the public and legal sphere to advance a

more conservative Islamic charter.

Ariel, Inul and Jupe

In a climate of relative impunity and rapid transformation of the previously plural

and liberal national imaginary, an anti-pornography law was drafted, past and

put into effect. In due course, the Indonesian version of Playboy was banned

and editor jailed. High profile victims became celebrated scapegoats.

In this context we initially saw the persecution of Inul Daratista the sexy

dangdut artist, the end of her career, yet the sensational rise and the prurient

reactionary triumph of Jupe (Julia Perez), and the spectacular social drama of

the Peter Porn (Pan) saga and the jailing of the band’s rock star leader Ariel,

his recent release three years later and the birth of his nationally acclaimed new

band Noah.

These are some of the most iconic symbolic histories marking the antipodal and

contradictory social transformation of Indonesian society underway in which an

artist like Jupe can flaunt and push far beyond the boundaries of what the anti-

pornography legilsation attempted to enforce at least in the visual domain and

in which an artist like Ariel has emerged as more popular, more celebrated and

professional than ever.

It is against this innately liberal broad social context and original contract, the

changing legislative background, and the above image, that we can best

understand the tensions at play in the increasing number of incidents of

violence against religious and cultural minorities for the period 2005 – 2013 and

the three topics under discussion here today. They are again – the “re-

education” of punks in Aceh, the politics of the pornography hysteria, and finally

the wholly unintended but nevertheless functional desecration of Buddhist

heritage in the site of Muarajambi in Jambi, Sumatra in terms of the treatment

of religious relics, namely the ashes of deceased spiritual and intellectual

leaders of the Indonesian Hindu-Buddhist era, 7th to13th Century.

Porno-Aksi: A discussion on the conjunction of feminism and patriarchy, an

emerging national critique the objectification of the female body, and changing

norms and laws.

Discussion Points: The Extremes and The Context. Figureheads.

Whose Your Leader? Radical or Liberal?

Whose your preferred dangdut artist? Rhoma Irhoma, Inul or Jupe?

What is “normal” in Indonesia? Whose vision is becoming dominant?

What do the contradictions and diversity tell us about a changing nation

and its history and in particular the history of the diversity of local Islam

and conservative Islamic political agendas playing out at the national

and local level?

Indonesian pluralism and regional cultural diversity as expressed in the

reactions to the proposed pornography law in 2006. Where are we

today in 2013? Studying Indonesian? Read Jupe’s lyrics for a radical

example of moral diversity in the public sphere and cultural blow back

against the conservative agenda. Consider the failing popularity of

Islamic parties, the recognition of generic hypocrisies and yet ask this.

Is there or is there not a fundamental shift entrenching an increasingly

illiberal hegemony taking place?

The realities of a liberal Indonesia and the relative scales of the

problems and incidents from 2006-2013 and beyond.

A more liberal nation than you might possible be able to imagine from

media reports. On scale, violence, politics and history, watch Joshua

Oppenheimer’s film The Act of Killing. On dangdut and sexuality, an

emergent fascinating anthropological literature well worth reading.

No More of This: It’s History Now!

This used to be normal news stand material before the anti-

pornography law came into effect. What are the implications of such

changes if any?

A discussion on changing norms and values, the West and the Rest,

pop music versus dhakwa (Islamic values propagation) radio in what is

essentially the largest Islamic population in the word, 98 percent of 240

million people.

Connecting The Three Issues: Punks, Porn and Desecration

While the formal paper for this presentation explores theoretical issues

concerning representation and politics, for this context, there are some basic

points I would like to emphasize which connect these three very different issues

in three different localities but relevant across Indonesia.

First, while I have not provided any visual images of the persecution and re-

education of punks in Aceh, we have discussed why they were a critical

symbolic threat to the new political landscape there and thus had to be removed

from the public sphere and treated as scapegoats to enforce a moral agenda

somewhat broader than the prior general application of sharia law.

Second, the issue of pornography and dandgut has addressed this normalcies in

Indonesia now policed as immoral practices damaging the nation’s spiritual

integrity. In all cases, I have raised the issue of diversity and hypocrisy, public

and private, and above all, an arguably fast changing local and national

imagination.

Now third, we move to the topic of desecration in Jambi and what constitutes the

archaeological pornographic - to be radical. The three are linked issues in terms

of religion and the national plural imaginary. We have explored this in

discussion in the elemental identity formation we find in music and prayer, in

imagery and a different kind of historical religious context connecting the

archipelago..

Destruction, Reconstruction and Desecration at the Cultural

Heritage/Archaeological Site of Muarajambi, Jambi.

This photograph taken in the site museum shows the map of the 2,900

hectare site and the Prajnaparamita sculpture representing the

Goddess of Supreme Wisdom, the Buddhist philosophy of the

Perfection of Wisdom for which this site was a pontifical seat of learning

between the 7th and 13th Centuries. Besides discussing the destruction

of the site by industry and archaeology, and briefly the issue of the

history of the difference between the study of logic and esoteric tantric

demonic Buddhism, the most important issue here is what lies behind

that map in this site museum.

On the Licensed Desecration of Buddhist Cultural Heritage

In the map above, most of the area on the south-east bank has been used as

an industrial site since the mid 1970’s. As someone with archeological interests

and training, and as someone concerned with heritage, such activity within a

designated site, and particularly considering the importance this site has to the

history of Buddhism, I find this image categorically pornographic, that is, to

move towards the final discussion for this presentation which is the matter of

interpretation. But first, consider the issue of the desecration of religious relics

excavated from the mandala at the base of Candi Gumpung where the

Prajnaparamita sculpture was found and as illustrated below.

Prayers at Candi Gumpung, Muarajambi

After the reconstruction of this and other structures at the site,

Buddhists began to visit to perambulate and pray here. This specific

structure is of the most exceptional religious and historical value which I

can only here very briefly allude to as an ancient pontifical seat of

learning connected intimately first with Nalanda in India and then with

the Tibetan reformation of the 10th and 11th Centuries through the

person of Atisha and the Sumatran logician Dharmakirti.

The videos of the prayers at Candi Gumpung (and the other video of

Ariel’s revival) as discussed in the presentation is available on-line at

jonathan zilberg you tube. As with my use of facebook as a social

archive platform, I systematically provide photographs of these sites,

issues and sculptures in order to share information with students such

as yourselves in order to encourage collaborative practices of open

sourcing knowledge in this case for a specific end, to bring attention to

the desecration of these relics at a university of this importance for the

study of Orientalism.

These are the ashes and remaining bone, the relics from the cremation

pyres of the most highly venerated Buddhist philosopher priests of the

Buddhist period in Sumatran history, a center for learning linking China

and India and Tibet well known in the literature on Sriwijaya, Chan Pei

and Suvarnadvipa. They were excavated from the mandala within the

foundation of Candi Gumpung alongside other relics ensuring the

propsperity of the structure and those who taught and worship and now

again worship there.

If this is not desecration, if this is not pornographic, then what is? In my

presentation naturally, these points were considerably elaborated.

Moving on from the issue of the desecration of these relics, unintended as it

may well be by the fact of sheer ignorance and lack of compassion and

oversight, or what have you, we come to the issue of the problem of the

interpretation of images, an issue which cuts across and binds the three topics

addressed here today of punks, pornography and desecration. In considering

this slide we considered the issue of whether the term demonic in demonic

Buddhism is accurate or not, symbolic or referent to actual ritual practice

involving blood sacrifice and tantric sexual rituals in graveyards etc. Naturally,

the issues of representation, sexuality, religious practice, and norms thus unites

the three topics under consideration.

Ariel in Action: On Music, Ritual and Prayer.

Towards closure, and referring also to a video posted on-line of this

performance and of the potential for audio-visual anthropological

research using hand phones, facebook and open access on-line

archives such as scribd, we returned to Ariel and his new band Noah in

a recent performance in Jakarta, a celebration of his return to the public

sphere and everything he and his music represents. I also noted the

connection many young people in Aceh have to particular songs by

Peter Pan as a anthems of memory to lost family and friends, the last

time they saw them, at the concert immediately before the tsunami.

Why Not? I’ll Tell You Why. This last image in the presentation refers

back to one of the first images, the rise of the FPI, Islamic Defenders

Front, in Jakarta in particular as defenders of public morality in the war

against pornography and other moral threats to the nation. As to why

the matters of punk and pornography, and issues of Caliphatization

matter, I refer you as students to put into practice your Indonesian

language skills by conducting your own interviews with such people.

Good luck!

Credits and Contact Details

The images used from the media in this presentation were taken from The

Jakarta Post, Tempo and Gatra and from my field data much of which is

available on facebook and at scribd. They will be fully detailed and credited if

and when used in formal publication with appropriate copyright permission.

At this point, in this context, they are merely provided here for educational

purposes. For information, a formal bibliography and paper which will follow in

due course please contact the author at jonathanzilberg@gmail.com, join me

on facebook or follow me on scribd or at academia.edu.

Please cite and seek copyright permission if re-using any of the above media

sourced images.

Finally, I am grateful to Professor Antonia Soriente for this opportunity to have

given this presentation in this seminar. The first image on the cover slide is a

student’s adaptation from an image taken from Playboy Indonesia considered

by law to be pornographic.