Ariel Surrenders over Web Sex Clips

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - An Indonesian rock star surrendered to police Tuesday over two homemade sex videos of himself with his celebrity girlfriends that appeared on the Internet, police said. Singer Nazril Ariel has been at the centre of the “Peterporn” scandal, named after his band Peterpan, since the grainy videos went viral on Indonesian social networking sites earlier this month.

“Ariel surrendered today at 3:00 am (2000 GMT Monday) after police named him a suspect for breaching the anti-pornography law. If he hadn’t surrendered we would have arrested him,” police deputy spokesman Zainuri Lubis said.

“Under Indonesian law, police have authority to detain him for 24 hours. We will decide later whether to detain him any longer.” The mainly Muslim country’s first celebrity sex video scandal has underscored the widening gulf between traditional values and modern, Internet-driven youth culture in the Southeast Asian archipelago.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has cited the videos in voicing his support for tougher controls on the Internet, such as a filter system proposed by the conservative communications minister.

“We have increasingly realised that our nation should not stay naked and be crushed by the information technology frenzy, because there will be many victims,” he told reporters last week.

The videos were apparently filmed by Ariel and show him having sex with his current girlfriend Luna Maya and his ex-girlfriend Cut Tari on separate occasions. Both women were prominent television personalities but their careers have imploded since the videos were made public.

They deny uploading the clips to the Internet but could still face up to 12 years in jail for breaches of the country’s controversial 2008 anti-pornography law.