Ban on the television gossip shows.

Ian Case

29 July 2010

*Another fatwa passed at an MUI meeting late on Tues. forbade receiving or conducting a sex-change operation unless there's a good medically-based reason. *The council is the top Islamic authority in Indonesia and while its edicts are often ignored, they can be cited by spiritual hardliners to excuse vigilante-style crackdowns on 'un-Islamic ' activities. *It has just issued a powerful stream of fatwas including bans on inter-faith weddings, smoking and yoga. It was pushed into a shaming apology earlier in the month when it corrected a fatwa ordering Muslims to wish to the west, when in truth the Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia are north-west of Indonesia. *Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia programming head Banardi Rachmad recounted the declaration on celebrity gossip shows was confusing and the station would continue to provide and broadcast such content. The increasingly pushy Indonesian Ulema Council ( MUI ) asserted gossip shows about the intimate details of peoples's personal lives. The noisy Indonesian Ulema Council ( MUI ) expounded gossip shows about the intimate details of peoples's non-public lives - a favored idiom on Indonesian TV - were unethical and threatened society. 'We considered it crucial to pass the fatwa as infotainment programs may contain unethical material and violate the journalistic code of ethics, ' MUI official Asrorun Niam Soleh

announced. 'We're not against all infotainment programs What's haram ( forbidden ) is material that is gossipy and exposes shameful details about folk. 'When folk start spreading rumors, the joints holding a country together will be crushed. ' gaining profits from infotainment shows is also prohibited under the announcement, posing a theological puzzle for the media industry in the planet's most populous Muslim-majority country. Gossip shows are authorized only if they 'uphold the law, warn the general public and help people", Mr Soleh announced. The ruling will be presented to the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission as a tenet for future infotainment programs, he said.