Indonesia, Daewoo Sign $1.1 Billion Contract For 3 Submarines
Porn Stars, Clad? They Seem to Appeal to Indonesian Filmgoers: New York Times
JAKARTA - Ms. Aoi, and others like her, are the secret of a winning formula stumbled upon by Maxima Pictures, the production house where Mr. Hidayat is an executive producer. For two years, Maxima has made some of Indonesia's most popular domestic films based on a simple premise: that many in Muslim-majority Indonesia will pay to see foreign porn stars perform -- clothed -- in local films. Just don't expect Indonesians to own up to it.
"We're hypocrites," said Mr. Hidayat, who is a Muslim. "People know who they are, but they won't admit it. It's a love-hate thing."
In few countries is the word "pornography" as politically charged as in Indonesia. Long known for its moderate and syncretic practice of Islam, and home to a large non-Muslim population, Indonesia has in recent years experienced a surge of orthodox Islam that has tried to reshape society, with the war on smut as a cause célèbre.
In 2008, Parliament passed a law including jail sentences of up to 12 years for producing or distributing pornography, which is defined broadly as anything -- a drawing, a movie or a body movement -- deemed to violate "public decency." An online pornography filter was imposed by the government last year. At the same time, Islamist vigilante groups like the Islamic Defenders Front, or F.P.I., have taken to the streets to enforce morality, sometimes violently, as the police have stood by. The groups are bolstered by provisions in the antipornography law that empower private citizens to act. While ostensibly about morality, the campaign is seen by many liberals and minorities as a broader push to Islamize Indonesia.
The filmmakers at Maxima are unlikely cultural warriors. With a standard fare relying heavily on ghosts, gore and teen slapstick, their films are hardly high art, said Yoen K, one of the company's producers.
