Taken from ‘Bungklang Bungkling’, ‘Jaruh Digital’, a column by I Wayan Juniartha, as published in Bali Post, Sunday 20th June 2010. Translated by Putu Semiada.
Digital Pornography (Jaruh Digital)
Since the Ariel, Luna and Cut Tari porn video case occurred more and more members of the Palm Toddy Association are buying mobile phones with video player facility.
They can of course watch porn using their PCs or laptops, but they think that it is more exciting to watch on their mobile phones. The reason is: they can watch wherever they are.
“In old times, Balinese ‘peeped’ at a couple making love through the ‘holes’ of woven bamboo walls or ventilation. In other words, they saw something from ‘small holes’ or ‘difficult positions’; but these days we see ‘those things’ via mobile phones which have small screens…but still with similar sensation,” says I Made Mata Minus Buang Plus (I Made Myopic But Have Big Lust).
He was the first club member to get the Ariel-Luna video. Since then he often goes to the cyber café to download the latest porn videos. He only comes to the warung to tell his friends what he finds.
“I heard that there are still 32 videos of Ariel, each with different women, some with artists, housewives, married artists, prostitutes, his own girlfriend and even his friends’ wives. Some even with homos,…..isn’t that cool, man,” says I Made excitedly.
His friends just laugh at him as everyone already has a mobile phone with video player feature and everyone has seen the Ariel Luna Maya and Ariel Cut Tari video.
“From Balinese traditional point of view, Ariel must own a ‘Pis Rejuna’ (magic Chinese coin with an image semi-divine, romantic hero Arjuna) and ‘Pis Jaran’ (magic Chinese coin with an image of a horse). That’s probably why he can sleep with many women. According to Freud, Ariel suffers a sexual disorder because he loves recording while doing sexual activities.”
Traditional analysis seems to ignore one thing: Ariel is a good-looking guy, very famous and rich. These days when you have those favours you don’t need ‘Pis Rejuna’ and you can take any woman you want easily, let alone the ones at red light cafes.
On the other hand, modern analysis ignores one thing: the basic instinct of a man to show off his ‘achievement’ ― how many women he has slept with. When young Balinese boys hang around together, the most popular question among them is: “Be Bakat?” (Did you sleep with her?) or “Ba kuda maan cewek?” (How many girls have you slept with”?).
In old times there was no handycam, so Sang Arjuna (Romeo) could not record his ‘achievement’ at having been successful sleeping with seven angels — from a virgin one up till an experienced one. Instead, everything was recorded in an inscription called Arjuna Wiwaha. If he had had a handycam, he would have brought one everywhere he went. The point is that men enjoy recording about how many women they have been able to sleep with.
“I’m sure this kind of thing can ruin the morality of our younger generation,” says I Wayan Musang Berbulu Onta (I Wayan Cheap Talk).
It seems that I Wayan’s talk is Moralitas Super Mie (cheap talk about morality). He may think that after this scandal, many students will have ‘free sex’ and many girl-students will get pregnant and ruin their life. They think that all students are like that.
Also, having seen how Cut Tari moans and groans in the video, he thinks that this nation has no good morale and will be disintegrated.
“It is corruption and fundamentalism that makes our nation disintegrate, not porn videos. Also it is our disorganized education system that makes many smart students have no chance to better education, not porn videos.” replies I Made.
“People who talk loudly about this issue are usually the ones who really enjoy watching the video and the ones who condemn Ariel are probably the ones who want to be like him.”
They might not realize that ‘porn’ is human nature, which has existed since the existence of the human kind itself and it always will.
“Porn is like daily needs: You will always need it as long as you live.”
Formerly students read porn books by Anny Arrow, and then the students from the following generations watched porn video on Betamax and laserdisc of western porn stars, followed by VCD of Japanese and Chinese porn stars. And now they can watch porn video of local artists on mobile phones and computers. So porn is a lifetime thing, it is just the media that makes it different.
“So, closing the warung internet (cyber cafes) or checking the students’ mobiles is something useless. The important thing is how to give proper information to the students so that they have good self-control and that they understand about condom use and the danger of HIV/AIDS, and not to ruin others’ life and theirs instead,” says I Made.
Everyone claps. It is the first time for them to see someone gives a ‘speech’ seriously about pornography. They imagine jokingly if I Made appointed as important official he might use ‘pornography’ as one of his programs.
“The most important thing is how to make students understand that there are a lot of more important things than just ‘pornography’ in this life. It is just a very small part in our life.”
This means that the police, ministers and president don’t need to waste their time just for this ‘porn’ issue.
