ABSTRACT
In 2003, as a student at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, I researched the topic of pornography in Indonesia by looking at a handful of locally made video compact disc (VCD) “pornographic” films that were in circulation at the time (Barker, 2003). These films were widely known amongst the student population and I had no trouble acquiring copies in order to see what the fuss was about. At the same time, articles and opinion pieces in local and national newspapers talked of how Indonesia was being flooded with pornography and how this material threatened the moral foundations of the nation. There seemed to be a growing moral panic in post-New Order Indonesia about pornography and its effect on people’s morality, and in particular the moral character of youth. 1
