Indonesia's highest Islamic body has followed up a series of contentious fatwas with a new edict banning Muslims from watching TV gossip shows or having sex-change operations.
The increasingly assertive Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) said gossip shows about the intimate details of people's private lives -- a popular genre on Indonesian television -- were immoral and threatened society.
"We considered it important to pass the fatwa as infotainment programmes may contain immoral material and violate the journalistic code of ethics," MUI official Asrorun Niam Soleh said Wednesday.
"We're not against all infotainment programmes... What's haram (forbidden) is material that's gossipy and exposes shameful details about people.
"When people start spreading rumours, the joints holding a nation together will be crushed."
Profiting from infotainment shows is also forbidden under the edict, posing a theological conundrum for the media industry in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.
Gossip shows are allowed only if they "uphold the law, warn the public and help people", Soleh said.



Indonesians watch television on a sidewalk in Jakarta