A beauty queen in a full-length evening gown is enough to make Abu Mohammad Jibril's blood boil.
Those bare arms and uncovered head. And don't get him started on the swimsuit portion of the show.
Miss Universe is disgusting pornography to the deputy head of Indonesia's Mujahideen Council.
“It's destructive,'' he said of the contest. “Miss Universe is very famous, so Muslim mothers want their daughters to be like Miss Universe and copy what they've seen.
“All these things, such as Miss Universe and fashion shows, are degrading morality. They're all pornography. A Muslim woman should not let her hair be seen by other people.''
Jibril's council hopes a proposed anti-pornography law would put an end to what it sees as Western depravity. But religious and cultural minorities, artists, teachers and other opponents warn that the Bill threatens free expression in Indonesia.
The Muslim council is headed by Abu Bakr Bashir, who has been accused of being the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, Al Qaida's affiliate in South East Asia, a claim he denies. Still, his council shares Al Qaida's disdain for what Bashir and his followers consider Western moral pollution.
When worshipers answered the call to prayer at Jibril's Jakarta mosque on a recent afternoon, one young man arrived wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a portrait of Osama Bin Laden.
Jibril sat for an interview on a green prayer rug, behind the same wooden lectern he uses for sermons.
Vilifying immoral dress and other trends he sees as signs of social decay, he paused only for an occasional question — and to answer the male voice reciting a verse from the Quran, which is his mobile phone's ring tone.
Indonesia's long debate over the anti-porn Bill, which has gone through a number of revisions, is dividing a nation founded on a series of principles that include “Unity in Diversity''.
The Muslim majority has long been known for respecting the rights of religious minorities.
Although Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation, women more commonly wear Western fashions than headscarves.
The proposed law casts a broad net for purveyors of smut. It defines pornography as sexual material that includes photographs, cartoons, films, poems, vocalisation, conversations and body gestures in the media or in public shows, exhibits or performances.
Those that “arouse sexual propensity, desires or longings'' or “contravene community ethics, decency or morality'' would be criminal acts if the Bill becomes law.
Producers of obscene material, which would include depictions of unorthodox sexual acts, child pornography, sexual violence and what is described vaguely as “allusions to nudity'', would face as long as 15 years in prison or a maximum fine equivalent to $1.5 million.
Distributors of porn, which also would include what the Bill's drafters call racy advertising, could be sentenced to a maximum three-year prison term or a $500,000 fine.
Backers of the Bill's provisions against the sexual exploitation of children, internet pornography and other more conventional measures against indecency decry what they consider the overkill of the measure's more aggressive elements.
The loudest opposition comes from the resort island of Bali, where Hindus are a majority and Western tourists exposing skin is routine.
Recently, several thousand protesters gathered in Bali to rally against the Bill, which opponents say is a threat to minority cultures.
Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has raised objections to the Bill in a letter addressed to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the speaker of the House of Representatives.
Jibril discounts the governor's objections, which he says are to be expected from the leader of a province where “they gain income from allowing foreigners to show their [bodies]''.
Jibril doubts the Bill will be passed because, he said, the government is a cabal of liars intent on prolonging the debate to manipulate voters. In the end, the politicians will side with the minorities and Muslims will give up on peaceful protest, he said in what sounded like a veiled threat.
“There will be time when Muslims are tired of holding [mass protests] and then something unwanted can happen,'' he warned.
