The Indonesian government has issued a stern warning to the daily newspaper “Pelita” over reports that most high school girls in Tana Toraja, in the southern part of Sulawesi Island, have lost their virginity. Director General of Press and Graphics Subrata wrote on 22 May 1996 that the articles which appeared in the 27 and […]
The Indonesian government has issued a stern warning to the daily
newspaper “Pelita” over reports that most high school girls in
Tana Toraja, in the southern part of Sulawesi Island, have lost
their virginity. Director General of Press and Graphics Subrata
wrote on 22 May 1996 that the articles which appeared in the 27
and 28 April editions of “Pelita” could incite religious tension
and stir anger among the Torajan people.
Quoting a local Muslim preacher, the newspaper reported that 96
percent of teenage girls in Tana Toraja, a popular tourist
destination in a predominantly Christian area, had lost their
virginity to foreign tourists. Thousands of local Torajan had been
staging protests asking the government to try the preacher.
The newspaper was initially known as the mouthpiece of the Muslim
party United Development Party. Executives of Golkar, the ruling
party of President Suharto, took over the newspaper in the 1970s.
The Indonesian government has the power to revoke the publishing
license of newspapers considered to have made grave errors.
Usually a publication is allowed three warnings before it loses
its license.
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