Members of the Islamic Defenders Front: they just read it for the articles
Actually, I don’t care for Playboy myself, or for anything in its genre. But I am not going to start rock-throwing to get it out of town. In a free society, one must put up with things that offend one’s sensibilities. Indonesia, of course, is not a free society.
Playboy Jihad Update from AP, with thanks to Shinolite:
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Police brought in the editors of Playboy Indonesia for questioning Thursday, as the toned-down version of the U.S. men’s magazine said it might stop publishing in the world’s most populous Muslim nation because of protests.
Playboy Indonesia’s editor in chief, Erwin Arnada, said advertisers had deserted the magazine after rock-throwing protesters vandalized its offices earlier this month, and his staff had received threats.
Asked if he would press ahead with a second edition, he said: “It is too soon to say.”
The row over Playboy is part of a larger debate in Indonesia over the role Islam should play in public life. The country is traditionally moderate and secular, but in recent years has seen the emergence of a vocal conservative fringe who want to make the country an Islamic state and see themselves as arbiters of public morality.
Hmmm. Seems to be a rather powerful “fringe.”
Police officers questioned Arnada and other staff members for more than five hours, mostly about the technical aspects of publishing the magazine, Arnada told reporters at Jakarta police headquarters.
Arnada said late Wednesday that he and 10 other members of the editorial team were to be questioned in response to charges by Islamic groups that the magazine violates articles of the criminal code regulating distribution of materials that “violate morality.”….
He claimed the first edition sold 100,000 copies.
“All our advertising clients have pulled their ads … they are afraid of the FPI,” he said, referring to the hardline group that stoned its offices….
Arnada said he and other employees have received letters, text messages and phone calls promising unspecified “physical action and legal action” if publication continues.
“I’m concerned about my employees,” he said.
Just like Comedy Central.