A Toned-Down Playboy For Indonesia

A toned-down edition of Playboy will go on sale Friday in mostly Muslim Indonesia, defying protests from Islamic leaders who have called on the government to ban the magazine, publishers said.

The magazine does not feature nude women, and its photos of female models are no more risque than those in other magazines already for sale in the country, according to an Associated Press photographer who saw an advance copy.

Avianto Nugroho, the magazine's promotion manager, said the magazine would go on sale on Friday.

The Indonesia Council of Clerics, the country's highest Islamic body, said that it disagreed with the publication of the magazine, regardless of its content.

"We reject Playboy magazine because it is an icon of pornography," said Maruf Amin, the head of the council's fatwa, or religious edict, section. "By insisting to publish, they are daring to face the opposition of society," he said.

Protesters hit the streets in towns across Indonesia when the magazine announced in January it was planning a local version. It remains to be seen whether demonstrations will pick up again after people have read it.

Magazines featuring photos of scantily clad women, including Indonesian versions of Western magazines FHM and Maxim, are sold in shops.

Pornographic VCDs, though illegal, are sold at markets all over the country, which has more Muslims than any other.

Most Indonesians practice a moderate form of Islam, and many women shun standard Middle Eastern practices by not covering their heads and often dressing in tight-fitting jeans and sleeveless tops.

Playboy already publishes local editions in 17 other countries, and is planning to launch a version of the magazine without nude photos in India soon.

The magazine will cost around 5 dollars, more than twice the minimum daily wage in Jakarta, but affordable to many middle- and upper-class city dwellers.

The first edition includes an interview with internationally renowned Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and articles on East Timor after its break from Jakarta-rule in 1999 and the development of Indonesian cartoons.