Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Blontank Pour, Malang/Surakarta – Thousands of Muslims staged a rally in Malang, East Java, strongly opposing the publication of the Indonesian edition of Playboy on the grounds that it would promote pornography in Indonesia.
In a related development at least 30 members of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) launched a sweeping operation against Playboy in a number of bookstores in Surakarta, Central Java, Saturday, even though they did not find a single copy of the magazine there.
The massive rally in Malang was conducted in the city square in front of the office of the mayor and legislative council, where protesters gave speeches condemning the magazine's publication.
The rally was attended by representatives of at least 11 Muslim organizations, including MMI, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah and the Indonesian Ulema Council. They also marched the streets, crying out, "Allahu Akbar (God is Great)." "Pornography in Indonesia will mushroom with the publication of Playboy," Mus'ab Abdulrachman, a rally spokesman said.
Besides condemning the publication of Playboy, the protesters also urged the government to pass the pornography bill, currently being deliberated at the House of Representatives, into law as soon as possible.
Mus'ab said he did not believe that the Indonesian version of Playboy would not to publish indecent pictures, even though its maiden edition had none.
He believed that as a franchise, the magazine will change its strategy in stages to be more in line with its principal publisher. That is why all Muslim organizations strongly oppose the publication of the magazine, Mus'ab said.
In Surakarta, six to eight protesters were assigned to enter bookstores in search of Playboy magazines, while dozens of others demonstrated amid heavy rainfall.
"We will continue monitoring the distribution of the magazines in Surakarta," Kholid Saifullah, the leader of the protest, said. Saturday's sweeping was the second ever held by the group in Surakarta.
Meanwhile, Eko Bimo Sutopo, a manager of Gramedia bookstore in Surakarta, said that it was already the policy of Gramedia management not to sell the magazines.
However, he admitted that he could not prevent any tenants from selling them in their store. "We rent part of the store so it is not within our authority to prohibit the tenants from selling the magazines," he added.
Similar opposition was also expressed by noted political figures and government officials in Batam in Riau Islands, Makassar, South Sulawesi, and Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara.
Chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Tifatul Sembiring said Saturday in Batam that he strongly opposed the publication of Playboy magazine in Indonesia as it would ruin the nation's culture and morals, especially among the young people.
The magazine's insistence on going ahead with the publication despite strong protests is feared may spark an even stronger reaction from the public, Sembiring said as quoted by Antara.