"Langit Makin Mendung" ("The Sky is Increasingly Cloudy") is a controversial Indonesian short story. Published in
Sastra magazine under the pen name Kipandjikusmin in August 1968, it tells the story of
Muhammad descending to Earth with the angel
Gabriel to investigate the decreasing number of Muslims entering
heaven, only to find that Muslims in Indonesia have begun
fornicating, drinking alcohol, waging war on Muslims, and otherwise going against the tenets of Islam because of
nasakom, a government policy during
Sukarno's administration that combined nationalism, religion, and communism. Unable to do anything to stop the rampant sinning, Muhammad and Gabriel watch the political maneuvering, crime, and famine in
Jakarta in the form of eagles. Upon publication, "Langit Makin Mendung" drew heavy criticism for its depictions of
Allah, Muhammad, and Gabriel.
Sastra was banned in
North Sumatra, and the magazine's offices in Jakarta were attacked. Despite published apologies from the writer and publisher, the head editor of
Sastra,
HB Jassin, was tried for blasphemy; he was later sentenced to a one-year
suspended sentence. Critical views of the story vary; the story has been compared to
Dante's
Divine Comedy for its depiction of a man on a spiritual quest with a spiritual companion, yet criticized for depicting Allah, Muhammad, and Gabriel in a negative light. The legal case itself has been subject to debate, with both sides arguing
freedom of expression and the scope of imagination.
The following are images from various freedom of speech-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Title page of
Index Librorum Prohibitorum, or
List of Prohibited Books (Venice, 1564) (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 2An "unexpurgated" edition of
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1959) (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 3The
Bill of Rights 1689 grants the
parliamentary privilege for freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in
Parliament and is still in effect. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 4Moscow municipal deputy
Alexei Gorinov was sentenced to 7 years in prison under Russia's
war censorship laws for his
anti-war statements in 2022. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 6
Blasphemy laws abolished Subnational restrictions |
Fines and restrictions Prison sentences Death sentences |
(from
Freedom of speech)
Image 7Restriction of apostasy by country (2020) (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 9The
Free Speech Flag was created during the
AACS encryption key controversy as "a symbol to show support for personal freedoms". (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 10In
Panegyricae orationes septem (1596), Henric van Cuyck, a Dutch Bishop, defended the need for
censorship and argued that
Johannes Gutenberg's printing press had resulted in a world infected by "pernicious lies"—so van Cuyck singled out the
Talmud and the
Qur'an, and the writings of
Martin Luther,
Jean Calvin and
Erasmus of Rotterdam. (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 11Article 299's prosecution have surged during
Erdogan's presidency. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 12Laws of holocaust denial 2025 (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 13Orator at London's
Speakers' Corner, 1974 (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 14George Orwell statue at the headquarters of the
BBC. A defence of free speech in an open society, the wall behind the statue is inscribed with the words "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear", words from
George Orwell's proposed preface to
Animal Farm (1945). (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 15Permanent Free Speech Wall in
Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 16Russian opposition politician
Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for discussing the
Bucha massacre in Ukraine on a
YouTube stream. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 17A map of nations which have
Lèse-majesté laws as of September 2022 (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 18Map showing U.S. states where
anti-BDS legislation has passed, is pending, or has failed as of November 2023 (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 19De Schreeuw (The Scream) is a memorial commemorating
Theo van Gogh and a symbol of the freedom of speech. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 20Orthodox priest Libor Halík with a group of followers. Halík has been chanting daily for over five years against abortion via megaphone in front of a maternity hospital in
Brno,
Moravia. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 21A protest outside the
Saudi Arabian Embassy in London against detention of Saudi blogger
Raif Badawi, 2017 (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 22This 1688 edition of
Jacobus de Voragine's
Golden Legend (1260) was censored according to the
Index Librorum Expurgatorum of 1707, which listed the specific passages of books already in circulation that required censorship. (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 23Protesters exercise freedom of speech to hold a vigil in front of the Zimbabwean Embassy in London, 2005. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 24First page of
John Milton's 1644 edition of
Areopagitica, in which he argued forcefully against the
Licensing Order of 1643 (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 25In Brazil,
freedom of assembly and expression are Constitutional rights. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 26Punk band
Visací zámek which composed a popular song "
The President Is a Faggot" about
Václav Klaus, 2003–2013 Czech President (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 27Eleanor Roosevelt and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)—Article 19 states that, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." (from
Freedom of speech)
Image 29Local issues are often the subject of free speech. (from
Freedom of speech by country)
Image 30A map of countries which have lèse-majesté laws as of January 2023 (from
Freedom of speech)
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