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Government bans 'Bikini' snack amid moral panic

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2016

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Hans Nicholas Jong and Arya Dipa, Jakarta, Bandung – After telling instant messaging applications to remove stickers featuring same-sex couples and blurring pictures of cleavages on television, the government has now banned a snack after deeming its packaging "indecent" and "inappropriate".

The packaging of the snack, called "Bikini" or Bihun Kekinian (trendy rice noodles), features the torso of a woman in a bikini, complete with the words "remas aku" (squeeze me).

Following complaints from the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), saying that the snack was inappropriate, especially for children, the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) is launching an investigation into the product.

"We have searched through our database and neither the producer nor the product came up. We are currently investigating to find out who the producer and distributor are," the agency's chairwoman, Penny Lukito, told The Jakarta Post.

She said that the agency had ordered its regional branches throughout the country to confiscate the products. "We will also coordinate with the Communications and Information Ministry to shut down the online sales," Penny said. "If needed, the case will be investigated by the National Police for cybercrime."

Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil has asked the product to be withdrawn from the market, saying that the country has moral values that need to be understood by businesses. According to the packaging, Bandung is where the snack is produced.

The BPOM's reactionary move is the latest example of government support for a conservative agenda, clamping down on anything it deems hazardous to the nation's "moral fibre".

"In the past few years, there have been attempts to make the morals of one religion the measure of all things and even national law. It's been happening since the anti-pornography law was passed," Human Rights watchdog Setara Institute deputy chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos told the Post.

Bonar cited the government's recent attempt to remove stickers from instant messaging apps Line and WhatsApp featuring same-sex couples. "Slowly but surely, conservatism is creeping into the public sphere," he noted.

As for the Bikini snack, Bonar argued that the risque packaging was simply a marketing ploy and not an attack on children's morals. "It's just a marketing trick to attract as many customers as possible and those who can think clearly will see it as something funny and won't have dirty thoughts," Bonar said. "But people want to kill creativity just because the snack is deemed immoral."

Complaints, he said, arose from a small minority of conservatives. "If the government were able to think clearly, it would've urged the public to not make a mountain out of a molehill," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/08/05/govt-bans-bikini-snack-amid-moral-panic.html.