Police in Indonesia have arrested the country's first Playboy model and her editor-in-chief on a decency violation rap.

Playmate Kartika Gunawan posed in lingerie for the first local edition of the magazine, which provoked a storm among the country's Muslim population. Reaction by hardliners prompted the publishers to up sticks from Jakarta and relocate to predominantly-Hindu Bali.

The second edition of the mag, which hit newsstands in early June, did little to calm the situation, featuring "Bali-based French beauty Amar Doriane, whose seductive poses in see-through lingerie make her April predecessor Kartika Gunawan look like a naive schoolgirl", as AsiaMedia puts it.

It also showcased Joanna Alexandra flaunting "an alluring gaze as skimpy outfits expose her midriff and thighs". Worse still, the issue carries a piece by the chairman of the Bali chapter of the Alliance for Independence Journalists, Anton Muhajir, giving forth about "the roaring success of pork meatball soup" in Bali plus an investigation into the "thriving business of selling locally brewed beer in Yogyakarta".

And just in case that didn't do the job, the magazine also ran an interview with death-row convict Fabianus Tibo, a "Christian who was sentenced to death for his role in the Poso sectarian conflict". Hardliners have been demanding Tibo's prompt execution since he and two others "were sentenced to death for committing premeditated murder and inciting riots, following ethnic and religious violence in the town of Poso, Central Sulawesi, in May 2000", according to an Amnesty International report.

The possible fate of Ms Gunawan and editor Erwin Arnada is less serious. If found guilty, they face a maximum of two years, eight months' chokey. Gunawan said: "I am not sorry, because every decision I made was well considered. I was not trying to make a sensation, many more people have posed more vulgar than I did." ®

Bootnote

One thing the second edition of Indonesian Playboy didn't carry much of was adverts. Potential advertisers bowed to pressure to pull out of the issue, prompting publisher PT Velvet Silver Media to leave white space carrying the message: "These blank pages are dedicated to our loyal clients who have been threatened against placing ads in this magazine."

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