JAKARTA,
April 7, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Amid public
protests and calls from Muslim leaders in Indonesia to combat the
"moral terrorism," a toned-down version of raunchy Playboy
magazine hit newsstands Friday, April 7, in the world's most populous
Muslim nation.
"Everyone
knows it's a pornographic magazine. The first edition may not have any
nudity. That's a very clever move by the publishers," Chamammah
Soeratno, head of the women's wing of major Muslim group Muhammadiyah,
told Reuters Friday.
Muhammadiyah
Chairman said that debut will spark strong protests from the public.
"I
hope the publisher would withdraw the publication from the public
before they would receive strong reactions from the public," Din
said.
The
pictures inside showed less skin than the magazine's 20 editions
worldwide.
The
first edition further carried an interview with Pramoedya Ananta Toer,
Indonesia's most prominent intellectual and author, as well as a
lengthy article on reconciliation between Indonesia and East Timor,
which broke away from Jakarta in 1999.
Protesters
hit the streets in towns across Indonesia when the magazine announced
in January it was planning an Indonesian version.
Indonesia
has many magazines on news stands that go further than the new Playboy
in the sexual content of their articles and at least as far in their
pictures.
Around
85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people follow Islam.
Explosive
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"Pornographic acts (on television) and publications, which have so far gone unchecked, have damaged our children's morality," Yoyoh says.
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Youth
and sports minister Adhyaksa Dault said he feared that the Playboy
issue could be "explosive".
"I
have coordinated with the minister of information (Sofyan Djalil). We
would like to see the contents first. We must find a way to cool down
the situation," he was quoted as saying by the Detikcom
news portal.
The
Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) pledged to forcefully remove the
magazines from shops.
"The
first edition might be tame, but it will get more vulgar," FPI
spokesman Tubagus Muhamad Sidik was quoted as saying by AFP.
"Even
if it had no pictures of women in it, we would still protest it
because of the name."
Spokesman
of the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI) Fauzan Al Anshori
threatened to take legal action against the publisher.
"We
are concerned about the publication. We will submit legal warning, but
if legal mechanism doesn't work, we are not responsible for any
incident because people will act on their own ways," he told
Indonesian Antara news agency as saying.
Yoyoh
Yusroh, deputy chairwoman of the parliamentary special committee
deliberating a pornography draft law, said Friday that the country is
in a dire need for such a bill.
"Pornographic
acts (on television) and publications, which have so far gone
unchecked, have damaged our children's morality, and it has to be
stopped. The unchecked availability of pornography has also ruined
many marriages," she told the Jakarta
Post.
Yoyoh
said the bill is expected to be referred to parliament in mid-May for
approval.
Talks
are still underway between the bill's opponents and supporters to
reach a halfway house.
