JAKARTA, Indonesia - About 300 members of the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) took out a protest rally and attacked Playboy's new offices in Indonesia. The famous men's magazine was launched in the most populous Muslim country in the world last week, but hardliner Muslims fear that the magazine would adversely affect the youth of the country who are already heavily influenced by the "decadent" Western culture.
The FPI activists gathered outside Playboy's offices and hurled stones tore up copies of the magazines and threatened more protests unless the magazine stopped publication in the country. About 90 policemen were stationed outside the building and it was reported that one of them suffered minor injuries.
"We will carry out more attacks if Playboy refuses to stop publishing," Salim Ali Hamid, one of the leaders of FPI told a local radio station. Playboy's Indonesian edition was launched last Friday and quickly sold out with many copies being sold on the black market for three times the price of the original at 39,000 rupiah ($4.33).
The magazine does not carry any nude pictures, but had images of underwear-clad women in addition to an interview with the country's most famous author, Pramoedya Ananta Toer. FPI activists are already known as the de facto culture police and attack Jakarta's most famous nightspots.
FPI has maintained that Playboy is like pornography and cannot be published in the country. South Jakarta police chief Wiliardi Wizard was quoted as telling Reuters that police would be questioning the leader of the FPI, “If they can hand over the perpetrators then that's good. Otherwise we'll have to hunt them,” he said.
The Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has taken into consideration the concerns voiced by several Muslim leaders before giving the nod for Playboy's publication in February. Muslims make up about 85 percent of Indonesia's population of 220 million.
