By IPS Correspondents
JAKARTA, Mar 11 2003 (IPS)

It is not her the picture of her dancing with Taufik Keimas, the husband of President Megawati Sukarnoputri – or her singing – that sparks so much controversy. It is the way Inul Daratista dances that does.

The debate that the 24-year-old rising singer of ‘dangdut’ – local renditions of popular Indian music – has stirred, speaks volumes about the kinds of issues being hotly debated in Indonesia today.

Her style of dancing, which includes the fast pelvic motions, holds her fans spellbound but has drawn the wrath of religious leaders and other critics here in the world’s most populous Islamic country.

The debates about Inul were triggered most recently by her first show on a private television station, which has since been followed by her popular and regular shows in at least three other stations.

”Immoral”, concluded the Indonesian Ulamas Council (MUI). Other officials labelled her a ”cheap commodity”, and some regional administrations banned her live shows.

”It is our duty to defend the pillars of morality, values and norms of this nation. Such performance harms our values and norms. It is offensive and just too provocative, said MUI chairman Amidhan Said.

But Eryanto, a construction worker in Bandung, outside Jakarta, says he does not care about the ulamas’ views. ”Inul gets big money from her marvelous skills and self-training. Politicians and religious leaders get money only from using their tongues (in lecturing, judging),” he argued. ”So Inul’s artistic buttocks are much better than the politicians’ and the MUI’s tongues.”

”The MUI has not banned Akbar Tanjung (the House speaker convicted in a 500 billion dollar corruption case), which is obviously against religious teaching and values,” points out Siska, a student in Jakarta. ”Inul is doing nothing but giving us joy.”

Still, the city administration of Yogyakarta, outside the capital, has banned her performances. The National Committee for Indonesian Youth of East Java chapter called for a boycott of her shows.

The largest Islamic university in Lampung, southern Sumatra island, asked the local administration to ban her videocassette discs in order to prevent people from seeing Inul’s style of dancing, popularly called ‘ngebor’ (drill).

”There is no problem with efforts to become popular. But one can’t just ignore social and religions norms. People like her, who are doing something for and gaining something from the public, have a responsibility to the public, argues Muhammad Ichwan, dean of the ‘shariah’ faculty of the Tanjungkarang-based Raden Intan Islamic University. ”She should also maintain our common norms and values.”

The dean of the ‘shariah’ faculty of the Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic University, Dr Hasanuddin A F, has gone as far as branding Inul’s style of dancing ‘haram’ (forbidden) because of what he says is its destructive impact in this country of 220 million people.

But the louder the controversy grows, the more popular Inul becomes. She has just signed a contract with a big local recording firm, Blackboard, for a new album. She has released five albums to date and their latest editions have been sold out.

Inul has received offers to become a presenter for an entertainment programme , to start in a film, to endorse products.

Even political parties, with an eye to Indonesia’s first direct presidential polls next year, want to use her popularity to gain more supporters – some have already asked her to campaign for them in exchange for hefty fees.

The list of political parties knocking on Inul’s door include the National Awakening Party, where Muslim clerics are dominant, the Justice Party regarded as reformist Muslim party, and the Megawati-led Indonesian Democracy Party Struggle.

Inul Daratista, whose real name is Ainur Rokhimah, hails from small town of Pasuruan in Central Java. She began performing on stage in her hometown since she was 10 years old, where ‘dangdut’ music is well-known.

Performing from village to village, she and earned 3,500 rupiah (40 U.S. cents) for a show in 1980s. As she grew more popular for her dancing style, amateur VCD producers began to record her performances – and soon, she got more and more fans.

”Mau lihat bokong ngebor?” (”Want to see my behind in action?”) she would ask her audiences. For Camelia Malik, a senior ‘dangdut’ singer, ”She is just marvelous. She can roll her hips so fast to the music. I haven’t seen other singers do that.”

Inul’s monthly earnings have reportedly swelled to 600 million rupiah (67,000 dollars) from live performances alone.

But for all of her popularity – and controversy – some, like script writer and art expert Arswendo Atmowiloto, say that Inul is just a phenomenon for whose staying power is too early to judge.

”She does not sing very well. But she tried something else (dancing) to compensate her singing ability. And it worked,” Atmowiloto says.

Whatever one thinks of her artistic talents, Dr Ayu Sutarto, an expert on human science at Jember University, says he does not understand the outrage over Inul.

”I am not a fan of hers, but accusing her of harming social values and norms is funny,” he points out. ”She was born from our existing values and norms. She lives with these,” Sutarto says, adding that in Javanese villages, traditional dances are very erotic and have been so for ages.

Commenting on the wrath of religious leaders and critics, Inul says she has no intention of harming social values. ”I just try to do what I can to make the crowd happy. And when I dance like this, they are happy, she says.

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