Cover Up, In the Name of the Law

(11/22/2008)

While Bali's Governor has condemned the recently passed anti-pornography law as opposed to Balinese culture and therefore unenforceable in his province, the Bali Chief of Police Inspector General Teuku Ashikin Husein told the press that he will be compelled to enforce the new law once the legislation is formally promulgated.

"I have no option. The police must enforce every positive law in the country," he told Tempointeraktif.com.

In line with the actions of a number of Indonesian provinces, Bali is seeking to overturn the new law before the constitutional courts while local community leaders and cultural groups are threatening to undertake civil disobedience in opposition to the law.

General Ashikin, a native of North Sumatra, will find himself in an extremely tenuous position should his force begin criminally prosecuting Balinese for what are seen locally as acts of free cultural expression.

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