JAKARTA — While Posh Spice considers posing, Kelly Osborne begs for the opportunity, Miss USA Tara Conner waits for Donald Trump to make up his mind on the matter, and Staff Sgt. Michelle Manhart risks losing her job for having made her own decision, Indonesia’s first Playboy centerfold model endures criticism unimaginable in America.Although Andhara Early wore more clothing in her Playboy spread than most fashion models wear for Vogue, the beauty had cruel insults thrown her way as she left the South Jakarta District Court where she had just testified in the indecency trial against Indonesian Playboy editor Erwin Arnada.
The collected crowd of Islamic hecklers, including several women wearing modest headscarves, called Early a prostitute and told the woman that they hoped her daughter would someday be raped as punishment for her indecency and sinfulness.
Religious conservatives in the most heavily Muslim populated nation on earth have been outraged since before the magazine published its first, by U.S. standards, exceptionally mild issue last year. Protestors have siezed upon the trial against Arnada, who faces the possibility of 32 months in prison if convicted, as an opportunity to vent their considerable spleen on the issue of indecency and the proper role of women in society.
The issue in question features no nudity, but does present several women dressed in swimsuits or underwear, in addition to feature articles. Early confessed to the press that harassment after her first trial appearance left her shaken. Among the insults and threats directed her way by hard line conservatives were assurances that she would go to hell for being a “cheap prostitute” and one person who called out “I hope your daughter gets raped” as she left the court house.
Like all witnesses, Early’s testimony was closed to both the media and the public; another fact that as infuriated the aggressive minority of conservative Muslims determined to impose harsh Islamic laws upon the otherwise secular, although predominantly moderate nation, which at least 190 million Muslims call home.
