A group of Muslims protesting Playboy’s decision to launch an Indonesian edition of the magazine clashed with police Wednesday and stoned the company’s editorial offices, witnesses said. No one was injured in the protest involving around 150 members of the Islamic Defenders’ Front, a small group with a history of attacking bars and nightclubs, as well as Western embassies. The protesters smashed several windows and the door and gate at the magazine’s offices in south Jakarta, witnesses said. Several were seen scuffling with police officers guarding the building. Playboy’s first local edition in a Muslim country went on sale Friday.
Read complete article on washingtonpost.com
What the hell is going on in this world? The beauty of (non-nude) Asian women brutally attacked… :-(Related news:
CBS News.com
CNN.com
Indonesian-celebrities.blogspot.com
Washingtonpost.com
Townhall.com
Related Articles:
indonesian-celebrities:
Lola Amaria: why should she cover up?
asiansexgazette.com:
Navel gazing out as Indonesians button up
Indonesia: Condemning pornography easier than dealing with corruption
Indonesian police destroy porn films and booze
Indonesian Muslims furious over Playboy
tiaralestari.blogspot.com:
Playboy in Indonesia?
asian-sirens.com:
Tamer Playboy hits Jakarta newsstands
Playboy magazine set for Indonesia despite protests
To publish or not to publish…?
(Visited 436 times, 1 visits today)
I can think of more important issues that they should focus their energy on, Playboy being the least of them. All they have to do is not buy the magazine. How come they’re not protesting against magazine that show more skin than Playboy that are already on sale in Indonesia? How come they are not protesting against the pornography that is widely available?
Overall, I don’t think it is such a big deal to the people of Indonesia. If it was, then the whole country would be in a frenzy since it is the most populous Muslim nation. These 150 protestors have nothing better to do and will move on to something else.
Robin: You can email me on this email addy so I can reply back to you: amoura@amoura.ca
The current state of the world reminds me a lot of the late 60’s, or at least what I’ve been told it was like. Most people are still trying to go about their lives and get by the best they can, but the headlines are filled with revolutionaries fighting and political corruption. Everything I read seems to be about people trying to take away everyones personal liberties. Its a sad state of affairs.
I agree, they definitely have better things to do. Lets hope they turn their attention to other matters.
They are very stupid. A lot of issues in Indonesia has been blinded with a single issue about pornographic. They should think and act how to solve many problems such as poverty, corruption, bad government. And most important thing is how to educate theirself not to be anarchy, immorality, and acting like a god who always pure and holy. I’m very sad as an Indonesian people. Please, pray for us! May the devils not mess-up with our nation.
First of all, it was not a wise decision on Playboy’s part to launch such magazine in a conservative place like Indonesia. But then again, I am sure they did their homework and justified the risk.
Also, I agree with the previous posters that maybe the people of Indonesia should be concentrating on more important issues than Playboy magazine. Logic often loses when clueless rage and heated blood rush to the wrong “head”…
I’m always amused by the value system of religious fundamentalists. They’re always so worked up about things like abortion, gay marriage and pornography (which doesn’t actually hurt anyone), yet they are very willing to kill people for their cause. I’m not just talking about Muslim terrorsits here, but also the Christian fundamentalists who think it’s right to invade Iraq, for example. I’m an atheist, and I think I am far more truly moralistic than religious fundamentalists.
Oh, brother. Here comes the Bush/US bashing. And a reminder why I don’t go back to Sachiko’s site anymore. Ramblings about things you two have no clue about.
Stick to girls and boobs, Dr. I’m a pro-choice (as long as their not using my taxes to pay for it) Libertarian, but your ‘abortion doesn’t hurt someone’ is laughable. And you might want to do a little research on porn – not all are willing participants.
I didn’t say abortion doesn’t hurt anyone – I said porn doesn’t hurt anyone when they watch it.
I invite people to read Sachiko’s writings on Bush and the Iraq war, and see for themselves whether she has ‘no clue’ (this was written before the Iraq war had actually started). I also inivite WestCoast to try and come up with an equally logical and eloquent defence of the Bush administration.
I fail to see what Bush has to do with Indonesians attacking the Playboy offices in indonesia… :-\
IMHO Bush is a complete idiot and a disaster for the whole planet earth, and I do not want to discuss him any further.
What Bush and these protestors have in common is that they are using religion to further their own goals. I think enough has been said about Bush. If people haven’t realized by now that he is an idiot and that he has screwed up the U.S., then nothing I could say would ever convince you.
I would understand if these protestors were protesting against something that was legitimate. But all they are doing is protesting against Playboy and not the contents of the magazine. Plus there are other magazines that show more skin that they aren’t protesting against or the porn that is widely available. Also, there haven’t been massive protests against the magazine, just these few protestors that just want to make headlines.
They made a headline at Asian-Sirens!
😉
I’m assuming you fellow Asian lovers on this forum who bash George W. Bush are not Americans. If you were, then you would know that the president did not have the power to declare war on Iraq; it was Congress. I’m an American citizen. I don’t live in a dictatorship. Please don’t imply that I do by saying Bush was responsible.
I myself am not a big fan of Bush. Each person is entitled to his or her own opinion, but I find it interesting that people here would likely take the side of Saddam over Bush. Why stop there when you can take the side of Mahmoud from Iran and welcome his upcoming religious nuclear war? The Muslims over there are actually crazy enough to do that. Maybe they should make a Playboy in Farsi to keep those Iranians occupied with protests.
I have mixed feelings about the war in Iraq, but I am certainly glad that Saddam is no longer in power. The insurgency that followed is unfortunate, but everyone knows that Iran deserves a lot of the blame. The true enemy, Iran, showed his face at a convenient time after the criticism with Iraq, making it difficult to justify another invasion. Bottom line: the war declaration should have said Iran and not Iraq.
When people say ‘Bush’, it is actually convenient shorthand for the entire Bush administration. People speak about politics in this way all the time.
And while Saddam was indeed a brutal dictator, is the current alternative any better? More people are dying now. Saddam came to power because only a brutal dictator can keep a country like Iraq under control at this point in it’s history. The people of Iraq have to sort out their problems amongst themsleves – it isn’t up to the US to do it for them.
The Bush administration does not include the U.S. Congress; they are separate. The Bush administration consists primarily of the pres, VP, and his cabinet. The pres and VP (who then appointed the cabinet) were chosen to lead the people. Congress was chosen to represent the people. The Bush administration never had the power to declare war on Iraq, yet people blame him/them first. Anyone is free to criticize them; I just wish they would learn more about my country before they choose to do so. Critics are so quick to point the finger, yet don’t know how to aim before they shoot.
Like I said, mixed feelings about Iraq. On one positive note (and yes there are many negative notes too), after Saddam fell, it brought the Internet and Internet cafes to many citizens in Iraq who were previously denied it due to a fear of revolt, so they are now capable of accessing Asian Sirens. However, it doesn’t seem like they are interested. Don’t worry, they’ll come around.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go stare at some more Asian boobies. Isn’t that what this site is about?
Come on, everybody knows it was the Bush administration who pushed for war in Iraq. Do you really think the US would have invaded Iraq if the republicans weren’t in power (and controlling congress)? Of course not! Any idiot knows that the Bush administration is responsible for the invasion of Iraq, whatever technicality you may argue.
Why is it that when I try to enlighten people on the evils of George Bush and his administration, that they assume that I am not American? I am an American, I know my history, and I pay attention to events that are taking place around the world, which is something that most Americans don’t do, which is why they are naive about the evils of Bush and his administration.
I would like to see a free and peaceful Iraq because I know people who are fighting there now and I want them back home safely. But should we forget that this war was based on lies? The case that was made for going to war was that Iraq has WMD and was an imminent threat. The administration said nothing about bringing democracy to the people of Iraq until after the war started and it was too late.
It’s good that Saddam is gone, but the U.S. kept that madman in power for a very long time because he was the lesser of two evils. The U.S. did not want Iraq to turn into Iran because the majority of Iraqi people are Shiite and the religious theocracy in Iran successfully overthrew the dictatorship that was installed by the CIA.
I used to think that we should have went to war in Iran instead of Iraq, but we screwed up that country more than once. And now they are bringing more instability to the world which is raising gas prices which is making companies like ExxonMobil even richer. These problems are too complicate for George W. because he’s a nitwit.
Well said Candyman – people forget that the US government was largely responsible for putting (and keeping) Saddam there in the first place!
On a lighter note (and trying to get things back on topic), solid scientific research has shown that regular masturbation dramatically reduces the risk of prostate cancer. So porn is actually good for you! I am proud to say this research was conducted in Australia. 😉
Yes, Dr Lee, and Candyman – I stand by my statement, you two and Sachiko are clueless about the US and the war. Sachiko being a college student here for a few years doesn’t make her an expert.
First off Dr. Lee, you’re guilty of ‘thread hijacking – you tried to bring Christians into the mix when the topic was clearly about Muslims. The HUGE difference is the Koran says there will be a day of Reckoning and all those who do not follow Allah should be killed. Christians have no such directives to kill non-believers. And furthermore, Clinton’s justice dept. also charged companies for breaking obscenity laws.
Secondly, when Hitler was removed, millions of innocents died; the US Revolutionary War – ditto – the list goes on. It’s unfortunate but it’s required. Things will eventually calm down – might take years. And when it does people in that country will enjoy freedoms that they could never before imagine. And I bet none of you were whining when Clinton sent the B-2 bombers to bomb Serbia – plenty of innocents were probably killed in those bombing runs. And most of the blood of innocents in Iraq is clearly on the UN’s hands – they let Saddam thumb his nose at their resolutions for years. And before you say ‘WMD’s I’d hope anyone with an IQ higher than Forrest Gump would realize that they were trucked off to neighboring countries before the Allied forces went in.
And as far as the ‘US put Saddam in’, so what? At the time he was the lesser of two evils and no one foresaw what he would do.
Trust me – the Republicans I know (again I’m a Libertarian) would rather be making money than fighting terrorism. But they don’t back down from a fight – like hand wringing Liberals – you can’t negotiate with terrorists.
Well said West Coast!!!! Hallalujiah!!
Ahem…
Can’t we just enjoy the nude pictures and live in peace?
In Nude Asian Chicks We Trust…
WestCoast, you still believe there were WMDs in Iraq just before the US invaded? Even the Bush administration itself now admits there weren’t any WMDs, as they haven’t been able to find any evidence of them having been there. I guess Candyman is right – if you haven’t seen reality by now, I guess you never will.
And even if there were WMDs, laying a country to waste is not the way to deal with the problem. If Saddam was simply able to ship them out to sympathetic countries, then the Bush strategy obviously isn’t very effective. And if US intelligence was able to detect them in the first place, why wouldn’t it have been able to detect Saddam shipping them out en masse?
Hitler invaded and occupied other countries – we didn’t invade Germany to remove him. And if you re-read my original comments, I was simply talking about how religious fundamentalists in general are too obsessed with issues like pornography at the expense of the real human rights issues, which is very much on topic – you are the one who has taken this thread off topic.
And whether we are right or wrong, Candyman, Sachiko and I obviously make very reasoned and well-informed arguments, so for you to say we are ‘clueless’ shows very clearly that your position is based on emotion, not reason. Interestingly, everyone who has objected to Sachiko’s writings on this issue has said exactly the same thing!
If people want to call Bush and his administration evil and blame them for the problems with Iraq, well it’s their opinion. Like I said before, it’s still missing the target. I personally don’t blame the Bush administration or Congress for Iraq; I blame Islam. The Muslims invaded Iraq long before we did. They had the intent to conquer, unlike us. And wow, the result from over a 1000 years ago was really a strong, advanced, stable, and diplomatically-friendly civilization that was worth living in…
I’m not a fan of Bush, but at least he is trying to solve some of the world’s problems, which you can’t say about most of the Islamic countries. And let’s see why that is…maybe it’s because they’re Muslim. See http://www.faithfreedom.org for more details on this great “religion of peace”.
Do me a favor. Go to the Middle East for a Muslim field trip. Wait until a judge sentences a woman who is guilty of a “crime” that we here in the free world enjoy the right to do everyday (one of those impulses that make us human). And then watch that judge, as he starts the sentence by casting the first stone, followed by the woman’s neighbors, gouging out her eyes in the process of stoning her to death, all while you stand there horrified to know what people are capable of. Then move on to the 15 year old girl who hung from a crane for an hour in front of her own town, all because she held hands in public with a man. She struggled for 11 minutes before dying. After you’re done watching, come back to the free world, and proceed with your discussion about whom you want to label as evil.
There is no doubt that there are serious human rights abuses in Muslim countries today, especially against women. But it wasn’t always this way – Islam was once far more progressive than it is today. It has become more extreme and fundamentalist as a reaction against what they perceive to be western imperialism. The best thing we can do to stop this is to get the hell out of the middle east. Then they won’t feel the need to be so ‘militant’, and they can start to deal with their own problems. Once again, it’s not up to us to solve their problems for them – this only makes matters worse.
I spent a long ass time writing about the evils of the Bush administration and religious fundamentalism, but I went over the character limit for posts by 3000. So here’s a summary of what I wrote.
1. WestCoast is clueless, so I won’t argue with him any further or use bad names about him. If he hasn’t realized by now what the Bush admin. has done and currently is doing, then he will never get it.
2. Religious fundamentalism is a problem in America and in the Muslim world. Certain people are using religion to further their own agendas and to get impressionable people to do what they want them to do.
3. The war in Iraq was unnecessary and dirverted massive resources from going after Al Qaeda.
4. The war was based on lies. Blunders continue daily. No WMDs have been found. The possibility of Civil War still looms. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been wasted. People cannot live normal lives without basic services or with the threat of being blown up by car bombs.
5. We will be in Iraq for the next half-century at least. We’re building permanent bases there and have the largest embassy in the whole world in Baghdad in a section of the city surrounded by thick slabs of concrete.
6. How many laws does Bush need to break to fight terrorism? Wire-tapping without using FISA, rendition, Guantanomo Bay, Abu Ghraib, secret prisons in Eastern Europe. How many terrorists have been caught as a result?
7. Fight for your rights and ITMFA. Thank you for reading, now I’m moving on to looking at naked Asian chicks.
Dr Lee
Islam has always been extreme. Their own holy book is proof, as anyone who has read it knows
”I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.” Quran 8:12
Terrorists supposedly misinterpret statements like these and hijack the religion. It seems to me that they understand their own extreme religion just fine
Islam has always been militant. Muhammad rallied his followers and started to conquer present day Iran, Syria, Iraq, North Africa, Palestine, Spain, Turkey, etc. This was a millennium ago. They would be doing the same thing today, but they can’t. It’s important to note that they would certainly conquer us if given the chance, but we don’t want to conquer them
The solution for peace in the Middle East? My first suggestion would be the elimination of Islam. But in the end, what would I know
Candyman
1 No evil was stated
2 Religious fundamentalism between America and the Muslim world is not comparable. (What goes on in your city dude?)
3 So Bush is evil because he slowed down the search for true evil (Qaeda). uh sure
4 Partial credit, Bush is not the source of the car bombs; blunders are not evil
5 No evil was stated
6 Partial credit, the only people who should be worried about wire tapping are criminals and terrorists, also law breaking does not constitute evil
7 No evil was stated
Um… any Christianity is NOT extreme? Com’on…
Anyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ is going to hell? Give me a break. I can go on all day long on the stupid stuff Christianity says and Christians TODAY still believe in.
That being said, religion is a living, breathing entity almost like a person (or a corporation… but let’s not get into that). It changes changes with time and modifies itself for whatever reason. So let’s not get too caught up with who’s evil and who’s good. Let’s focus on the nude beauts and drop this silly talk already…
I mean, would this kind of conversation turn a hot model on? Com’on…
(If you do know one of those models though, I want her email addres… 😉 )
This sort of talk might turn Sachiko on. 😉
In response to iloveasianwomen’s post, The Bible contains some very brutal words from God, and there is at least one clear case of genocide at God’s hands. Also, Christian countries have invaded and occupied many more countries than Muslim countries have. The Christian missionary tradition wiped out many cultures and religions. And it is we who are occupying the middle east now, not the other way around.
I am NOT saying Christianity is worse than Islam. I’m just saying that all religious fundamentalism is bad, which I think is irrefutable.
You make it sound like I was purposely defending Christianity, something I have never done, for many of the reasons both of you have stated. I love quoting the Bible and freaking people out. My favorite is Deuteronomy 13:6-11. http://www.carm.org/kjv/Deut/Deut_13.htm
A Buddhist pointed that one out to me. Those guys are so cool.
On the other hand, I don’t remember Christians starting worldwide violent and deadly riots in the past few months over something as insignificant as a cartoon about their religion. I think Muslims have a bigger identity crisis, and are a bit more extreme in terms of their faith. I definitely view them as a much bigger threat to the peace of this world.
-out
Christianity and Islam are peaceful religions. The religion is not the problem. The problem is when a select few distort that religion for their own goals. And this has been happening for the longest time now. Look at all of those European countries who traveled the world to stretch their own empires. Columbus went to the Caribbean where they were on the search for gold. He’s responsible for the deaths of over 450,000+ Arawaks. He forced them to search for gold and if they didn’t find enough, their hands were cut off and they bled to death. Is this Christianlike?
Do I need to mention slavery? How tens of millions of Africans were forced to come over to the New World where about 1/3 of them actually survived the voyage across the Atlantic. Do I need to mention how white Southerners stripped them of whatever culture they had left and forced them to become Christians? Is this Christianlike?
Do I need to mention what happened to the Native Americans? Or to the slaves in South America? How about India? How about Australia? How about those who had to escape from Europe to come to America so they could practice their religion freely because of opression from the Catholic Church? Do I need to mention all of the people that have been molested by Catholic priests and did all they could to cover it up? Would Jesus condone the molestation of innocent children?
And Bush. We went from snorting coke and dodging the Vietnam War to become president. Bush and his cronies act like they are so religious when it could be further from the truth. Have you seen his record on the environment? How about the number of innocent Iraqis that have been killed in Iraq? How about the number of innocent people that he could have saved in Darfur but did nothing and continues to do nothing? The’re going after abortion now, but I’d wish they take that energy and focus it on saving people who need saving. For instance doing something about the number of children who become the victim of gun violence.
I can go on and on, but if you don’t have a clue now, you never will. And if you want to compare who did what, so-called Christians have, by far, done more worse things than Muslims ever have. We just need to do something about religious fundamentalism and bring some peace into the world. That’s all.
And about that cartoon, that is a problem stemming from religious fundamentalists. They got all those people worked up over a cartoon that was published back in 2005. They protested, burned down an embassy, and a few dozen people were killed.
They also went from hating the Danish to Death to America when America had nothing to do with that cartoon. How ridiculous is that? Where’s the logic?
No matter how bad these riots are, they don’t compare to what so-called Christians have done when they have used religion for their own goals. Religious fundamentalism is a problem that we need to deal with.
I believe Muslim is a violent religion.
Christianity is an agressive religion.
Both of these religious fundamentalists are to be blame.
About the war in IRAQ, everything US does is about US interest, what is good for the US, and not what is best for the world. Tell me one country is not interest for oneself. I don’t think anyone can name one. Bush, US congress and senates going to IRAQ maily for OIL, so for all those that blaming Bush attacking IRAQ is that they should look at themselve. If you are using oil in your everyday life, then you should thanks the US soldiers that traded their blood for the convience that you and I enjoy.
Candyman, I think you misunderstood. I’m not Christian nor do I defend that religion. I could ramble on all day about ridiculous (and scary) statements in the Bible, including the one I mentioned above. By the way, you said a select few distort their religion for their own goals. How did the terrorists distort the Islamic verse that I quoted earlier? Was it because they weren’t extreme enough and chopped off their heads but refrained from chopping off the fingers, even though their holy book tells them to go all out? Even still, I think the terrorists understand their religion quite well. Thankfully, all Muslims and Christians don’t reenact every part of their holy book.
Anywho, it was good talking to you and the doc. Good luck in…whatever it is that you do.
Khong, the U.S. does not only think about itself. It offers and provides aid to numerous foreign countries, including some Muslim ones and even for a time in North Korea. You’re right, we should thank U.S. soldiers, I would be over there too if they didn’t turn down my Air Force enlistment due to asthma.
Khong, the U.S. does not only think about itself. It offers and provides aid to numerous foreign countries, including some Muslim ones and even for a time in North Korea. You’re right, we should thank U.S. soldiers, I would be over there too if they didn’t turn down my Air Force enlistment due to asthma.
Not that I want to further propagate this political conversation, but isn’t the US being involved in those “conflicts” also because of political or economic interests? Between nations, nobody does anything for each other just out of the goodness of their hearts (not that I am saying that shouldn’t be the case). Just basic rules of economics, that’s all.
I was talking about so-called Christian people who openly tout their religion but do the opposite of its teachings. That’s what gets me angry. That’s why I have a beef with George W. and his cronies and his administration.
Do you remember when Congress halted everything to save Terry Shiavo who been a vegetable for over a decade? Bush stopped what he was doing to see her. Why can’t he show the same committment to those who are alive? Why can’t he show the same passion about saving people who are the victims of gun violence? My city has had the highest murder rate in the past 7 years. I know that politicians won’t do anything, but what really gets me is when these people act so religious and go after unimportant issues that effect no one when there are plenty of issues to focus their attention on.
I used to think that this war is about oil, but I believe that this war is about putting an American influence right in the heart of the Middle East. It’s about bringing capitalism and American businesses right in the heart of the Islamic world to turn these people into mindless consumers.
As with the distortion of religion, you have millions of impressionable people that are preached to by a select few and picking up their ideals instead of thinking for themselves. That’s a problem that moderate Muslims are trying to deal with today and have been battling for a long time.
All I know is that war is not the answer, and this war in Iraq has fueled the cause of Al Qaeda. Bin Laden should have been taken out first before this war has been started. Saddam was evil, but there were bigger threats to the U.S. to take out like North Korea and Iran which I spoke about back in 2002 while I was still in the military.
I used to think that this war is about oil, but I believe that this war is about putting an American influence right in the heart of the Middle East. It’s about bringing capitalism and American businesses right in the heart of the Islamic world to turn these people into mindless consumers.
BINGO! You just answered the million-dollar question, my friend. It’s ALL about influence and economics, American economics, that is. Not that there’s anything “wrong” with that in itself… All nations, businesses and individuals look after themselves, so America is simply extending its military and political influence to the economic side of the equation. Personally, I think what ticks the Middle Eastern nations off is America’s double standard towards everything (why should Isreal and itself have neuclear weapons with open support to India’s “peaceful” use of neuclear power when it tries to ban Iran from having it?)… If I were from the Middle East, I’d be pissed too. Nobody likes double standards… well, at least not so openly and obvious and not coming from a country that claims to be the world police but doesn’t walk the walk, just talking trash all the time).
Wow, there’s some really intelligent and well-informed comments here! Candyman’s covered everything very well, but I’d just like to respond to iloveasianwomen’s contention that Islam is worse than Christianity right now. The fact of the matter is, we are the ones who are occupying their land. Given that our military power is vastly superior to their’s, what else can they turn to apart from violent protest and terrorism? There is fault on both sides here.
And trying to wipe out Islam certainly is NOT the answer. Religion is like a hydra: cut off one head, and two more grow in it’s place. All you can do is leave it alone or try to pacify it, then eventually it will cease to be a problem.