[ASIAONES] INSTEAD of just reading about social and natural sciences, some students of elementary schools in East Java, Indonesia, were studying something else - pornography.

An investigation has been launched to find out how sexually explicit material, both in text and images, made its way into the books of primary and Islamic schools in the Batang and Pekalongan district.

This is the second time it has occurred, reported Jakarta Globe. Months earlier, sexual innuendo was introduced into an exam for elementary school students.


According to news portal detik.com, the textbooks, covering a range of subjects from social sciences to natural sciences and poetry, contained images of a woman in her underwear and another of a woman wearing see-through clothing.

Mr Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), told Jakarta Globe that he had already received reports about the pornographic textbooks circulating in Pekalongan.

Not for students

He said the books were issued by the company, PT Erlangga, and were not intended for students but "as a kind of health book for teachers".

"I do not know what went wrong - whether it was the book salesperson or a teacher that allowed the books to end up in a library to be read by students," he said.

He was also shocked to discover the tainted books circulating in the other province.

He added: "We must investigate whether there is a deliberate effort to issue or include pornographic material to disrupt the image of national education and the morality of the young."

Mr Seto plans to send a letter to the head of the Central Java Education Agency urging them to investigate.

Mr Suharyanto of the Central Java Police told the Jakarta Globe that his officers had launched an investigation. He said: "We hope to capture the perpetrator soon and stop the (books') circulation in schools. Local police have already started an investigation."

In the East Java scandal that broke in October, sixth grade students taking an Indonesian language exam were asked to read a letter to a newspaper titled "Naughty Businessman Caged Along With Mak Erot".

Mak Erot refers to a legendary healer from West Java who specialised in enlarging men's genitals.