De-Jakarta

Jakarta is always a place where its easy to find a laugh.
Not just because of the sunny disposition of the general population.

The worlds largest muslim country has a full fledged market economy with a 15% ,wealthy non-muslim population(read ethnic Chinese) who are only too willing to flaunt their lifestyle of choice , and a largely impoverished muslim majority that feels left out and finds solace in the word of the Prophet.

#1
Amid protests , Playboy Indonesia was launched this week.
15 pages of 160 had full page photos of women . All well clothed.


More highbrow subjects gained a lot of space in its 160 pages, including an interview with renowned man of letters Pramoedya Ananta Toer, an investigative report on indigenous religions by Pantau journalist Agus Sopian and an expos‚ of the country's lucrative oil industry, written by economist Poltak Hotradero.

Save for these, the magazine resembles many of the hard-to-distinguish mainstream lifestyle magazines hogging space on local newsstands.

There are blink-and-you-miss-them music (including local heavy metal band Serieus) and film review columns (Good Night, Good Luck, Brokeback Mountain).

In one of its stories taken from the U.S. founding publication, Playboy Indonesia tells how Japanese automaker Toyota is on the road to dominating the American car market

Read about it here.

#2
"Unrelated people who kiss each other on the lips for more than five minutes in public places in the Indonesian city of Tangerang will face arrest, local media said Friday."

PS: I hear Playboy is launching in the land of elephants and snake-charmers. Count a coupla more votes for Bhajpaa