Playboy Against Islamic Radicals in Indonesia

There are no sexy topless pictures. There are no tits or breasts and pussy in full view. Neither are there explicit sexual scenes. Playboy in Indonesia is a watered down version of its counterparts in other parts of the world. It is a stumbling toddler learning to crawl. Nevertheless radical groups in the country are raising a cry to ban the adult magazine from publishing in the largest Muslim country in the world. Pornography is deemed an affront against Islam and a corruption of societal values. While the majority of Muslims are moderate and too busy eking out a living in the poverty-stricken country to care about morality or the lack of it in the media, some extremists are attacking Playboy offices and going to the streets to protest their disapproval.

The recent acquittal of the editor-in-chief of Playboy, Erwin Arnada, by the Indonesian court of distributing indecent pictures to the public and making money from them has sparked a deep divide in the Muslim community. Indonesia has witnessed the increase of adult magazines or soft porn though they all run short of nudity. Maxim and FHM are among the more raunchy magazines targeting male readers that are making inroads into the Indonesian market. Radical Muslims worry that these will develop into real pornography and lead to a permissive society as a result. Will the Indonesian Playboy ever grow into full-blown pornography, and satisfy the desire of the Indonesian male or “sexually-friendly” adults? Arnado claimed that Playboy in Indonesia will never publish nudity. However, extremists will never let off their pressure on the government to ban the sexually explicit adult magazine.