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” fi lms that were in circulation at the time (Barker, 2003 ). These fi lms 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 fl ooded 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
In the time since my initial investigation there have been signifi cant developments in the law pertaining to “pornography” and in the nature of such content. Since 2003, mobile phones have become the most common device for recording and sharing recordings of sexually explicit material (Humphreys and Barker, 2007 ). Nevertheless, I want to return to the VCD fi lms of my original study because they track an important historical moment between the end of the New Order in 1998 and the introduction of the new Anti-Pornography Law in 2008. Since 2003, the most signifi cant sex video scandal to occur was in 2010, which became known as “Peter Porn.” A collection of private sex fi lms made by pop star Ariel from the popular music group Peterpan (hence “Peter Porn”) were made public following a break-in at his home. This was one of the fi rst cases to be prosecuted under the new Anti-Pornography Law, which came into effect on October 30, 2008 (see Chapter 1 ).
