Indonesian Blogosphere works together.

I received an email from Nick of Bali Blog a couple of days ago.

A US magazine wants more info on the '5 minute kiss' rule in Tangerang. Here is the email I got.

I read about the kissing ban in Tangerang last week and notice you've mentioned it on your blog. It's a funny little story, naturally, and here at Harper's we'd like to get our hands on a copy of the original draft of the bill which proposed the ban.

We can pay $15 an hour for the research, and of course we'd be looking for a qualified translator to excerpt parts of the bill after we locate it, for 15 cents a word. Do you know anyone in the Jakarta area who might be able to help us track down the bill?

As we are on deadline here I'd love to hear from you as soon as possible. Thanks for your help!

Best regards,
Dan Keane
Harper's Magazine
666 Broadway, 11th floor
New York, NY 10012

So I forwarded the message around various folk here in Jakarta and got several offers of help in translating and a copy of the Tangerang bylaws from the good folk at Indonesian Anonymus. Bill of Jakarta Eye will undertake the translation of the relevant sections.

I think this is a welcome tale of folk networking for communal benefit. But I do have a feeling, that in this instance, perhaps we shouldn't. Should we bloggers be helping consolidate the world's view of Indonesia as a backwater in societal terms?

That the Tangerang township has enacted their own misogynist bylaws, possibly in contravention of Indonesia's constitution, is not "a funny little story, naturally" to quote Dan Keane. It's a sad tale of local dignatories imposing their blinkered values on society without the mandate of their electorate.

The streets of Tangerang may well be free of prostitutes; they've gone to neighbouring areas.
 

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