SURABAYA, Indonesia — Two consenting adults whose sex video went viral in Indonesia last week have been arrested for obscenity, following a relentless investigative campaign by police and amateur detectives.
The video, labeled “Kebaya Merah,” was described by local English-language news site Coconuts Jakarta as “a scripted amateur video” featuring an Indonesian couple wearing party masks. According to the site, the couple “role-played a scenario in which she, a hotel employee wearing the red traditional intricate-lace kebaya top, enters a hotel room occupied by the male actor to bring him an ashtray. The man walks out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. After he offered her money, sexual shenanigans ensue.”
After the video went viral in the Muslim-majority country, the term “kebaya merah,” meaning “red kebaya,” topped Twitter trending topics for several days. This notoriety compelled law enforcement to launch a man-and-womanhunt to identify their location in order to charge the couple.
As XBIZ reported, under the country's harsh 2008 obscenity law, "Law 44," Indonesia — including Bali, a popular destination for tourists, expats and influencers — has become notorious for recurring arrests of locals and foreigners making and sharing content online.
“The country’s ambiguous pornography laws have led to the jailing of people over adult content and leaked sex tapes, including celebrities,” noted news site Coconuts Bali in June, when an Instagram influencer was detained for alleged “indecent” content. “Even so, some Indonesians still break the law, with a number of content makers active on adult platforms such as OnlyFans, which is popular among sex workers.”
Self-Deputized Online Sleuths
Surabaya police were aided by the amateur detective work of online sleuths who identified the room’s wallpaper and the road signs visible through the window. This revealed that the hotel was not in Bali, as was initially believed, but in the East Java capital of Surabaya.
Police announced on Monday morning that they had arrested the couple. Both of the people involved are now facing up to six years in prison “for posting immoral content online, as outlined in the controversial Information and Electronic Transactions Act,” Coconuts Jakarta reported, adding that the couple, particularly the woman, “have been victims of doxxing and slut-shaming online by those who disapprove of their actions.”
Despite the risks, the news site editorialized, “it seems likely the porn producers of Indonesia will persist. Whether their motivations are profit or kink, or both, there’s never been a time of greater opportunity for people willing to bare it all in front of a camera.”
The real question, Coconuts Jakarta noted, “is whether conservative Indonesian law and society will ever accept that pornography is inevitable in the modern world and start treating its citizens as adults who don’t need to be protected from the sight of other people having sex, or whether the cat-and-mouse game between covert adult content creators and the cops will continue.”
Adult performers who shoot content while traveling should be aware of laws regarding production and distribution of what could be considered “pornography” by local authorities.
Main Image: Screen capture from the “Kebaya Merah” viral video (Photo: Surabaya Police)