Indonesian Minors' Exposure to Pornography

Two days ago, I watched Sentro at ABC. They featured the Indonesian teens’ (including the minors) exposure to pornography. Unlike in our own country, where men’s magazines and any other pornographic materials are strictly distributed preventing minors to get their hands on one, the Indonesians apparently do not mind the youth to see pornography at a young age. It was stated that even stores near schools sell these kind of materials which the students can easily scan. Indonesia even ranks seventh in the world, boasting the highest traffic to pornographic websites, much of which was contributed by teenagers.

As a result, minors are being thrown to jail. The most common reason is rape. Some of them even killed their victims in the hopes of hiding the crime they did.

However, in order to correct the scenario, the Indonesian government has launched a National Action Plan on Anti-Pornography Families, which will be educating parents on what kind of material their children are watching when they access the internet.

The issue surrounding Indonesians’ access to pornography came to the fore recently, but mainly it deals with Muslim groups’ attempts to ban much softer porn, and public displays of affection.

In fact, it was just last month that the parliament had given green signal to a law banning Internet providers from giving customers access to pornography sites.

I think what Indonesia lacks is sex education for the youth and including their parents (for them to educate their children). Maybe they just don’t see the harm of it, until now. And I hope I’m wrong, but some of the internet cafes here in the Philippines are not very strict about pornographic sites and to think that many youngsters hang out in internet cafes.

I just hope proper action must be taken before something goes wrong.

From blanne’s personal blog.