Report: Indonesian Authorities Enforce Video Game Ban During Homework Hours
According to a report on The Impudent Obersver, police in one Indonesian municipality will be enforcing a ban on videos games and TV during a two-hour evening period designated for children to do their homework:
The municipality of Bekasi… [is] ordering all students within its jurisdiction to study and do their homework or face legal consequences… The new regulations require students, from elementary school to high school, to study between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. either at home alone or with classmates from the same neighborhood. During study time, no TV or video game will be alowed and students will be banned from going to the mall or entertainment centers.
[Eductaion chief] Kodrato said his adminsitration would empower neighborhood heads and police personnel to enforce the regulations. Bekasi was inspired to institute the new policy after hearing it has been in operation in the municipality of Yogyakanta since 2003.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Well we all know that the government raising other people’s kids never turned out bad, look at how Nazi Germany turned out. /sarcasm
May 5th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Argh, this is typical of a bad idea. If you want someone to do something, encourage them to do that thing instead of telling them not to do some other thing. If they didn’t want to study before this new law isn’t going to change their minds.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:28 am
“[Eductaion chief]”
lolz…
Sorry Dennis, there’s something funny about that particular word having the typo… :-p
May 5th, 2008 at 10:29 am
WATCH OUT BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING!!!!!
May 5th, 2008 at 10:29 am
0_o This story is pretty creepy….
May 5th, 2008 at 10:31 am
So from 7 to 9 they will have kids pretending to study? I’m sorry if you told me I had to study between 7 to 9 I would go to my room, turn out the lights and go right to sleep.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:33 am
@InsidiousMrMoo
I used to go up, close the door and read comics.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Do they issue their ‘officers’ with swastikas and jackboots, you know, for authenticity?
This story gave me shivers….
May 5th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Shit! Don’t let Tommy boy hear about this one, that might be his next campaign against the industry! Then he will move to make any time study time! :-S
May 5th, 2008 at 10:39 am
try this where I live and there will be riots on the streets. Riots in which I will participate. The governement is rotten and should mind his own business.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:41 am
And I thought I was living in a nanny state.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:42 am
2 hours isn’t unreasonable. I was a horrible student who never got my homework done and got through HS by the skin of my teeth due to my lousy attention span. But government enforcement is still excessive.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:43 am
They should know you cannot force a kid to study. No matter what you threaten the kids will just stare blankly at the book they are “Studying” for the two hours turning the page every few minuets making it look like they are studying.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:44 am
You’ve got to be kidding.
Soon they’ll be packing people into crates and throwing them in a river. Today the Inonesian children tomorrow the world? Freedom, Homework and Bread?
This can only bring about bad things.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:47 am
What about if the kids already did their homework during the school day???
May 5th, 2008 at 10:50 am
That’s ridiculous. I feel sorry for those poor kids.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:51 am
next will be camps to go study for few hours. then they will only let them study what they wrote. and burn the rest
May 5th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Let’s see - large group of kids with 2 hours to spend forced to choose either independent study or “study time” with fellow classmates indoors? Oooh! I know this one! Doesn’t it end with them all getting knocked up and/or hooked on D&D?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Waaait…how will they enforce this? Knock on every door and demand proof that they’re studying?
And Mythgarr, what’s wrong with D&D?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:01 am
@Mythgarr;
Best comment ever.
Congratulations, you win at internet.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:07 am
This is not really much of a step further than compulsory state-approved schooling.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Obviously this country no longer has any after school sports or music programs… since the grand majority of all performances / football games occur right at 7:00. This isn’t just an attack against kids, it’s an attack against creativity, sportsmanship, and the arts.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Was this law written by Obama?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Damn thought police >_>.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:56 am
You know…if Kira is living in this place…its only going to make it easier for him/her to write in the Deathnote (flash back to the “Dramatic Chip-Eatting/Homework scene.) >=D
May 5th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Seriously tho, this really is a bad bad BAD Idea, how many kids are actually going to study during this time? “Study or you will go to jail.” I would probably NOT study outta principle…I forsee riots and protests and many problems ahead…
May 5th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I think that maybe they don´t have any crimes or something, if they have the resources to be checking what children do in their free time.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Holy crap.. what about teaching kids time management?? Maybe they’re better at studying from 9-10? Or 5-7? At best you’ll raise a generation that can’t think for themselves, but more likely a generation that rebels against doing anything they’re told!
May 5th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
“During study time, no TV or video game will be alowed and students will be banned from going to the mall or entertainment centers.”
Doesn’t say anything about not going to strip joints.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
wonderful picture
May 5th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Scary and unfair, but…
study and do their homework or face legal consequences…
Fucking hilarious.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
If anything this is gonna force grades down
Cram sessions don’t work usually as it can overload the brain, and that’s all I see here, government enforced cram sessions
May 5th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
@videogameotaku
Deathnote refernce for the win!
May 5th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I’m curious how they plan on enforcing this. What happens when a sadistic teacher decides to assign “must watch (insert documentary)” for homework? Are they gonna have cops peeping into people’s windows looking for lit TV’s?
And is indonesia really so fortunate that they don’t have more serious crimes to be on guard for??
May 5th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Hmm, for a long time - while I was in school at least younger - I never had video games to play..
Yet.. I still didn’t do my homework, lol
May 5th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Fucking Indonesian government…
May 5th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Well, that doesn’t like a police state at all…
May 5th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
How is this going to be enforced? Will they have cops sneaking around and peeking in windows, or will it be up to all adults to keep a watch out? I can see them being able to enforce no malls or entertainment centers, but home entertainment? Will they be going door to door and making sure the child is staring at a book?
May 5th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Drop that game controller! Do this book report on Orwells “1984″ instead…
May 5th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
While this bad. This is not comparable to an Owellian 1984 state. So stop saying it no thought police or nothing. 1984 was about the control of thought. While in this situation they are telling kids what to do they are not forcing them to think in a certain way.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
So they’re placing a law into effect that cannot be enforced by any practical means…real smart, guys. Think of the children, yeah, that’s important, but first THINK OF THE LOGISTICS! So right now the law seems to be little more than a suggestion for parents.
The only thing that the government can directly control is TV programming, like the Telecom act passed by the US. That can influence a kid’s watching habits. But kids will be kids and they can figure out other ways to kill time.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
@Werrick
Seconded
May 5th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
@Stu
Two Words… Slippery Slope
May 5th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
@ BrandonL337
Every slope still has its valley at the end. It’s just an issue of knowing where that slope will end.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Yeah…next they’ll start to control what times students come home, where they can go, then extend it to adults, take away private gun ownership (if it’s still there even)…and straight into an Orwellian state…sounds like a good plan!
May 5th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Right on!
7 PM to 9 PM every night… Anatomy and sex ed! Woot!
/Sarcasm
Epic failure in law. It’s worthless unless you can enforce it.
Nice way to make the gov’t the parent. Let’s make a generation of losers that must be told what to do at every point in their life. Brilliant.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
@JustChris
It may eventually stop but that doesn’t mean anything unless you can climb back out
May 5th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
This coming from a country with history of oppression in Aech, West Papua and what was East Timor. Don’t forget that this is a country that pays only lip-service to freedom.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
There is a time to study and a time to play games. If the youngsters in that area don’t understand the concept, that’s ok….there’s always a french fry cook position open at the local McDonalds and Burger King.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
are they banning tv, radio and playing other games as well, or just picking on the evil video game industry, At least with a video game the kid is interacting some how, not like those kids sitting on their ass watching scoobie doo and eating the junk food their parents are giving them to keep the quiet.
If polititions could campaign in video games I bet all this “STOP THE EVIL VIDEO GAMES” shit would go away.
As far as kids playing violent video games, I would love it if they just made it illegal for kids to play them rather than banning the games, at least then I could play a game I enjoy and if online would not have to listen to a bunch of brats. How about xbox give us an option to report an underage kid online playing a game ment for us adults, then they get their xbox locked up and problem solved, I realy dont care how they do it as long as they dont try to tell me I cant play a game because it cant be sold do to too much sex or violence, yet I can go to war to kill people for real, go rent a hard core porn movie or go to a strip club and that is all ok.
Parents just need to pay attention a little and the government needs to get out or our private lives.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:23 am
How is this plausable, seirously? Unless they actually enforce Oceania style screens in people’s houses, or unless they actually develop the Guadalcanal-22 0_o…
May 6th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Wow I have friends in highschool who can do their homework in an hour, some in a half hour, sometimes there is no homework.
In addition when I was in elementary school until like fifth grade I was in bed by eight o clock.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:56 am
To be fair, this is an Indonesian municipal government ruling meaning.
1) It’s never going to be enforced like a hundred other by laws that Indonesia has.
2)If it is, it’s because some cop needs a bit of pocket money.
May 6th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
That’s unfair, and what the hell are they going to do if the child refuse? Don’t forget that this is children we are talking about not machines, it’s at moments like this i pray that Soviet rises from it’s ashes and everyone unleashes nuclear hell. Someone press the restart button!
May 6th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
“He loved Big Brother.”
-George Orwell, 1984.
May 6th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Great, now the kids are going to secretly play splinter cell and learn how to sneak to each others houses or in malls. Indonesia will have a bunch of splinter cells on their hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK1rvuuMqbQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPRY-XZfLNI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIzSKhk_VWg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2D7Q24hvhw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EceKPISeq5g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XBjX1ciOYQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX3JpqS9E-Y&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KGbjha9IoM&feature=related
( I apologize if their are to many links. I was trying to make a satirical point about splinter cell kids.)