Indonesian faces six years in jail over porn billboard

Most of the people were laughing at it. I say give him a prize for bring a grin to the commuters. And a job in IT to help prevent hacking...

I,am sure the bill board got more attention that morning than ever before!!

6 years is pretty harsh. Rapists and murderers can (and often do) get less here in Japan.

6 years for a prank? Good grief.

6 years for a prank? Good grief.

In Indonesia something like this is considered a crime against Islamic Law. No lewdness allowed.

Weird that they punish a porn prankster given the not so bright history of this Muslim-majority country.

Fadamor:

" In Indonesia something like this is considered a crime against Islamic Law. No lewdness allowed. "

But Indonesia is not under islamic law (except for Aceh province). I agree that it would be the muslim activists who were pushing for an exaggerated punishment. But they do not have Shariah law to back them up (at least in theory).

The way article stated be was arrested under criminal laws of the country. Later, he has to worry money on copyright protection infringement lawsuit by this Japanese porno developer.

But Indonesia is not under islamic law (except for Aceh province).

It's influenced by Islamic law. The Constitution is only semi-secular. The very first principle is "Belief in the one and only God (in Indonesian, Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa)." So polytheists and atheists are out of luck. The government also officially recognizes only six religions and requires that you carry an ID card identifying you as a member of one of these religions. Atheism is illegal, and the only countries in the world with legal penalties for atheism are Muslim republics or Muslim-majority countries. It's not a full-on Sharia country, but people have been flogged for going on dates and religious courts oversee civil matters, such as marital law and inheritance. More below from wiki, with respect to the non-Aceh parts of Indonesia. (Acheh is even less secular.)

In other parts of Indonesia, religious courts have jurisdiction over civil cases between Muslim spouses on matters concerning marriage, divorce, reconciliation, and alimony. The competence of religious courts is not exclusive, and parties can apply to District Courts for adjudication on basis of Roman Dutch law or local adat.[171][needs update] Suharto’s New Order expanded the reach of Islamic law, first with the 1974 Marriage Act, which assigned jurisdiction over the marriage and divorce of Muslims to the Islamic courts (Indonesian: peradilan agama), and with the 1989 Religious Judicature Act, which elevated Islamic courts by making them a parallel legal system, equal to state courts and gave them jurisdiction over inheritance (wasiyyah), gifts (hibah) and religious endowments.[172] Muslim litigants could originally choose whether to have inheritance questions decided by the Islamic courts or by the civil courts, but a 2006 amendment eliminated this possibility; the same amendment gave Islamic courts new jurisdiction over property disputes, including financial and economic matters.[172] Muslims seeking a divorce must also file their claim in Islamic courts.[172] The Compilation of Islamic Law 1991 (Indonesian: Kompilasi Hukum Islam) regulates marriage, inheritance, and charitable trusts (wakaf).[172] Islamic law falls outside the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court.[172] Since 2006, a number of districts have issued local ordinances based on sharia.[173]

Being anonymous on the internet is hard. He should have known better. 6 yrs for this? Imagine you had grown up here and have your 5 yr old in the car next to you when this was playing. I'd be horrified, but 4-6 months would be sufficient and IDR 260M fine. That would get his attention and be sufficient to scare others, methinks.

But Indonesia is not under islamic law (except for Aceh province). I agree that it would be the muslim activists who were pushing for an exaggerated punishment. But they do not have Shariah law to back them up (at least in theory).

This is partly true, but kind of irrelevant. The relevant law here is Indonesias criminal law, which is secular and not based on Sharia. But the content of any countrys secular law is inevitably influenced by the culture and religious beliefs that predominate. The secular laws of most countries with Muslim majority populations treat things involving pornography, alcohol or homosexuality much much harsher than in most other countries since they shock the dominant cultural and religious norms that exist.

This is a bit of an over generalization since there is a wide range of variation among Islamic-majority countries, but I think its mostly correct. I`ve spent a bit of time in one such country, Malaysia, which is generally one of the more liberal Muslim countries but even there the toleration for stuff like that is quite low and one has to be careful (as those Australians who paraded in their underwear at the recent F1 race are currently discovering).