ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the topic of Indonesian "pornographic" VCDs from the period 2000 to 2003, it considers the four most significant films, but expanding the scope of inquiry to make broader observations about sex, morality and pornography in the Reformasi era. The end of the New Order in 1998 inaugurated a period of reform known as Reformasi that saw the liberalisation of the economy, decentralisation of government and the dissolution of authoritarian controls over the press and media. Whilst Reformasi was celebrated for enabling freedom of expression and the liberalisation of culture, there was also a growing sentiment that "Reformasi" simply meant the unregulated publication of pornographic content. When the first of these VCD films was released in 2000, they were situated within this history of sexually explicit material in modern Indonesia. How they were understood was to be shaped by prevailing perceptions that centred on issues of moral danger, foreign cultural influence and a threat to the young generation.
