Remarkable News Indonesia: CGV Movie Theater Seats Promote Adultery
Indonesia's third-largest cinema operator CGV Cinemas, owned by publicly listed Graha Layar Prima, needs to replace the comfortable (bed-like) seats in the velvet class of its Palembang movie theater (in the capital of Indonesia's South Sumatra province) because local authorities decided (after receiving complaints from local citizens) that the bed-like seats may encourage adultery and sexual misconduct.
In the velvet class (Studio 6) of its Palembang movie theater (located in the Sosial Market shopping center) CGV Cinemas offers bed-like seats to make people's movie experience more comfortable. On these seats two people can lie down completely for the purpose of watching a movie. These facilities are also available in several other CGV movie theaters across Indonesia.
However, after local authorities received complaints from local residents, Palembang's Deputy Mayor Fitrianti Agustinda, together with the head of the local Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) branch, visited Studio 6 of CGV Cinemas' movie theater in Palembang and concluded that the bed-like seats could promote adultery and sexual misconduct in local society. Young couples could take advantage of the comfortable bed-like seats in the dark environment when watching a movie.
CGV Cinemas explained that the bed-like seats are just a tool to enhance the quality of consumers' experience when watching a movie. Moreover, the operator had security cameras installed in Studio 6 in order to monitor people's activities. If people are abusing the facilities then they would be removed from the theater.
CGV Cinemas currently operates 27 movie theaters across Indonesia (mostly on Java, Sumatra, Batam, Kalimantan and Sulawesi). The chain is owned by Graha Layar Prima that conducted an initial public offering (IPO) on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2014. South Korea’s largest multiplex cinema - CJ CGV Co. Ltd - controls a 21.68 percent stake in the company. This partnership was reason to rebrand the cinema chain from "Blitz Megaplex" to "CGV Cinemas". South Korea's CJ CGV Co. Ltd. operates movie theaters around the world, including Vietnam, China, Turkey and the United States.
Earlier it was reported that CGV Cinemas Indonesia plans to more than triple its number of movie screens to 600 by 2020, from 185 screens currently. In 2016 the company welcomed more than 10 million visitors in its movie theaters, up from around 7 million visitors in the preceding year, and 6.8 million in 2014.
It is not the first time that Indonesia's stricter Muslim community manages to impose its will on the public in cases that seemingly involve innocent activities. Another interesting example occurred in 2015 when the Aceh Province passed a bill to ban unmarried couples from riding a motorcycle together.