Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Film Censorship in Indonesia?

Actually, since 1994, Lembaga Sensor Film (Film Censorship Agency) has been the authority on film censorship in Indonesia. Previously known as Badan Sensor Film (Film Censorship Board) for almost three decades, the agency’s task is to “prevent society from the negative influences of film, and reinforcing cinema as a tool for national character-building purposes.” The institution is preceded by Panitia Pengawas Film (Film Supervision Committee), established early in the post-independence years to develop national cinema for cultural and education purposes. During colonial times, the film censorship authority was known as Komisi Pemeriksa Film (Film Examination Commission), established by the Dutch colonial government to uphold and maintain its public image.

In fact, Indonesia’s film censorship authority is directly accountable to the President. Its scope of work is defined and mandated by the 2014 Governmental Decree on Film Censorship Board, which describes the board as a non-structural or non-ministerial governmental agency. Its operation is currently supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture, while members of the film censorship board represent various strands of Indonesian society, from educators, film professionals, religious leaders, to military officers.

You’re 1/3 of the way to the right answer, as all of these things are prohibited. The current film censorship law, ratified in 2014, maintains similar restrictions with the previous law. The 1994 version discouraged the explicit display of bodies, drug use, gambling, and violence. Politically, the law forbids scenes or stories that might disrupt the harmony of intercultural lives, or frame representatives of the state in a negative manner. The only ‘breakthrough’ added to the law in 2014 is that filmmakers are given an opportunity to revise their films should the censorship board find any violation. Previously, a problematic film would either be revised by the censorship board directly, or banned outright.

Guess again! To date, cinema remains the only artform regulated by the state in Indonesia. While there have been cases of sculptures and performance art being censored by the state, both exist without any laws regulating them (except for matters related to intellectual properties in copyright law). In 2019, there were attempts to pass a law covering music, but the plan was opposed by various musicians and cultural workers.

It is Rudi Sudjarwo’s Pocong a film which combines a classic Indonesian ghost trope with a painful episode in the nation’s history. The ghost in question emerges after the protagonist witnesses his family being slaughtered during the May 1998 riots. Due to the premise and the brutal scenes, the censorship board was concerned that the film might open an “old wound”, and banned the film from public screenings. In response, the film’s production house immediately went on to produce a sequel. As a result, Pocong 2 became one of the most unique films in Indonesian film history, with most audiences never having seen the first film.

The right answer is Daniel Rudi Haryanto’s Prison and Paradise, which was nominated for the Piala Citra award at the Festival Film Indonesia, in the Best Documentary category in 2011. The documentary presents the testimonies of the 2002 Bali bombers from prison, before they were executed by the state in 2006. The film did not have a censorship certificate when it was submitted for the festival. After the jury deemed the film worthy for nomination, the festival’s executive committee registered it with the censorship board to meet the requirements of their guidelines. However, the submission was rejected due to the film’s sensitive topic, and consequently, the nomination was revoked.

Any of these films could easily have been targeted, but the right answer, in this case, is Darren Aronofsky’s Noah which was slated for an Indonesian theatrical release on 28 March 2014. The film was heavily advertised by major cinema chains in Indonesia, but controversies around the film’s subject only emerged in the days leading up to its release. The movie suddenly disappeared from the promotional materials of Indonesian movie theaters. Then, on 24 March 2014, the censorship board released a public statement saying the film failed to pass censorship requirements. Zainut Tauhid Saadi, a member of the censorship board, said, “We rejected the screening of the film in Indonesia. The visual depiction of a prophet is forbidden in Islam. The film will hurt both Christian and Muslim communities.”

Guess again. It  made international news when it happened. Lightyear, a prequel to the popular Toy Story films, was expected to be release in Indonesian cinemas on 17 June 2022. However, due to media reports about the depiction of same-sex relationships in the story, the film provoked public debates in the weeks leading up to its release. On 15 June 2022, Rommy Fibri Hardiyanto, chief of the Film Censorship Board, released a statement to the media, saying the film had been given “special notes to remove the sensitive scenes”. Disney insisted that the film should be screened as is, and therefore retracted the film from theatrical release in Indonesia. However, from August 2022, Lightyear has been available on Disney+ Hotstar, Disney’s streaming platform for Indonesia. No cuts were made for the streaming version.

Guess again. It was Peter Weir’s The Year of Living Dangerously,  set in Indonesia, in the days leading up to the fall of President Sukarno and the bloody takeover by Suharto afterwards. Primarily a love story, the film follows a group of foreign correspondents in Jakarta on the eve of an attempted coup by the 30 September Movement in 1965. In many ways, it is the first film to depict this historical episode from an alternative perspective – at the time the publicly-known narrative was told by Suharto’s dictatorship regime, famously through Arifin C Noer’s Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI. At the time of its release, The Year of Living Dangerously was banned by the Indonesian government. However, in 2000, the post-Reformation government lifted the ban. The film was then screened in movie theatres in Indonesia.