Ludicrous? Of course. But don’t laugh. Mocking Islamic values can get you killed in modern, “moderate” Indonesia.
“Bare-breasted mermaids get covered up in Indonesia,” Channel News Asia, March 26, 2019 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
JAKARTA: A pair of bare-breasted mermaid statues have been given the family values treatment at an Indonesian amusement park where officials slipped golden tube tops over their chests.
While the nude statues have been on display for years at Jakarta’s Ancol Dreamland, a recent policy aimed at respecting “Eastern values” has seen the mermaids get an official cover-up.
The statues were initially just covered with gold fabric, but they’ve now also been moved to a more secluded area after visitors kept pulling the coverings down, park sources told AFP.
Ancol Dreamland spokeswoman Rika Lestari insisted no outside agitators were behind the cover-up.
“There was no pressure from any group,” she said. “Ancol is trying to become an amusement park and vacation spot for families.”
That didn’t stop the park’s move from being widely mocked.
“Thanks Ancol. Now, no one will commit adultery of the eyes from looking at the mermaids’ breasts,” comedian Soleh Solihun wrote on Twitter….
Jay Dillon says
Moderate Indonesia, I feel like you are slipping away… where are you going…. into the dark….
mortimer says
Where is this MODERATE Islam people are talking about?
It’s like searching for the unicorn.
CRUSADER says
Heaven forbid that Islamists ever show up on Denmark’s shores.
The little mermaid of Copenhagen will never look the same….
gravenimage says
It’s already been done, CRUSADER. Someone put the little mermaid in a Hijab:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u08I2pk_KL4/VEYZ7o6snnI/AAAAAAAAivk/zBEFqZDkqM4/s1600/2014_10_21%2BDenmark%2BLittle%2BMermaid%2Bin%2BMoslem%2BVeil.jpg
It is impossible to know if this was a Muslim protesting her nudity, or an Anti-Jihadist making a point.
Geoffrey de Brito says
an Indonesian amusement park? Indonesians should enjoy it while it lasts. As Iran’s departed and hell bound Ayatollah Khomeini made clear; “Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.”
CRUSADER says
“No fun in Islam…”
Thought that sounded familiar!
revereridesagain says
What happened? Did their husbands complain?
Niemoller says
Actually, it’s the Indonesian bureaucrats who are disrespecting their Eastern values, and cowering to Southwest Asian (Arab) values. Years ago, I used to think of Indonesia as culturally closer to Tahiti than to the Islamic State, but not anymore.
Niemoller says
Sorry to insult Christian Arabs with the above comment. The sad fact is that a common street thug from the 7th century became a despotic sexually deviant war lord who concocted his own confused religion and used it to destroy most of authentic Arab culture, which was Christian for centuries before the existence of Mohammad.
CRUSADER says
Irshad Manji herself realizes ( and has written about ) Arab characteristics which make it difficult to deal with them…. Very contentious folk.
Saracens, remember?
BARBARA BROOKS says
I don’t think naked statues are appropriate at a family amusement park, and I’m not a Muslim. Many artists and sculptures made beautiful images of the human body, but the fact is that most were serving decadent patrons or were immoral themselves. Modesty is a good thing, as long as you don’t go crazy and try to cover up like a Muslim.
mortimer says
Art is about celebrating beauty. Children should learn that the human body is beautiful and not shameful.
mortimer says
Art is not pornography. Nude art is about creating a better state of the soul, the difference between stasis and kinesis.
Islam is all about kinesis.
Michael B Przydzielski says
The irony is that the tube tops are more suggestive and sexy that some boring naked stone.
Rosie Barnes says
What is absurd is that presumably they believe that their perfect God created and fashioned his people in a perfect way – so women are born naked, with breasts. They aren’t born wearing gold “boob tubes”.
Any covering of the female body, from the tube to the burqa, is a male creation as a symbol of domination and of women as mere possessions, or from sexual frustration and perversion. It makes no sense whatsoever.
Michael Copeland says
How do they know the mermaids are not maid slaves?
Slave women are allowed to be bare-breasted in Islamic law: it expresses their humiliated condition..
European pagan says
Next time they will put hijab on them
Anjuli Pandavar says
Shouldn’t the mermaids be stoned to death? Maybe it’s complicated. This is, after all, Indonesia, Islam’s model democracy. Let’s ask Mehdi Hasan who knows just how great this democracy is. Mehdi, any thoughts?
sidney penny says
“Ludicrous? Of course. But don’t laugh. Mocking Islamic values can get you killed in modern, “moderate” Indonesia.”
Robert I thought it was MMM Modern Moderate Malaysia?
“Ludicrous? Of course. But don’t laugh. Mocking Islamic values can get you killed in modern, “moderate” Malaysia.” Maybe
sidney penny says
“While the nude statues have been on display for years at Jakarta’s Ancol Dreamland, a recent policy aimed at respecting “Eastern values” has seen the mermaids get an official cover-up.”
The Indians will have a tough time respecting eastern values by covering up the erotic sculptures on the temples of Khajuraho.
smoris says
Muslims have ways of taking care of that too – remember the destruction of the statues of Nineveh? I am against this kind of thing – including the tearing down of the statue of Saddam Hussein and the destruction of our own Civil War monuments. These are not necessarily “homage” to the subject; they are reminders of our history. There are those here and abroad who would strip us of our past and our collective knowledge in order to replace it with their own “story”. I doubt much will survive the vicious and destructive force of Islam when that which represents our culture is so weak and mealy. Our culture has deteriorated so much that it does not even care to preserve itself.
TimC says
Uh… but the lack of a hijab is acceptable?
gravenimage says
Indonesia: Bare-breasted mermaids get covered up with golden tube tops
………………….
Well, this is fairly stupid.
CRUSADER says
Ya think?
Who will be next?
The giant Marilyn Monroe statue?