Jakarta. Former “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson has donated $25,000 from a Playboy cover shoot to a charity that helps disaster victims in Indonesia, only to find her pledge of help snubbed by members of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front.
“I’ve just shot another Playboy cover that will debut in January for Hugh Hefner, at his request — I adore him. Playboy and I decided to do this, so I could donate earnings from the shoot to Waves for Water,” Anderson said on her Web site.
However, Anderson’s intention to donate money to victims in Indonesia was challenged by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which declared the donation haram, or forbidden, because the money was obtained through what it deemed an immoral act.
“If she wants to do nude shoots, it means she is challenging a bigger disaster to happen in Indonesia. It’s haram,” Habib Umar Salim, the head of FPI’s advisory council, was quoted as saying by Metro TV.
“FPI is operating an aid center for Merapi victims, why don’t you [the media] write about that? Don’t just write that the FPI can only kill people,” he added.
Waves for Water has helped people in Sumatra and Bali, as well as communities in Haiti and Chile affected by disaster.
According to its Web site, following the 2009 Padang quake, it distributed 200 filters to help 2,000 people access clean water.
In Bali, it helped 37 poor villages get clean drinking water.
“It’s an amazing group that supplies water filters to countries that are in need of clean drinking water. It has already made a huge difference in Indonesia, Pakistan and Haiti. I’m so honored to work with Playboy again to support this life-altering cause!” Anderson wrote on her site.
The FPI also protested against the Indonesian version of Playboy magazine.
The short-lived local version of the magazine published its first issue in April 2006.
It released its sixth and final issue in February 2007, and did not publish nude pictures in any issue.
The ruckus was followed by a police investigation that resulted in Playboy editor Erwin Arnanda and two members of the publishing company, Velvet Silver Media, being charged with violating an indecency article in the Criminal Code.
Erwin has just started serving a two-year jail term for his indecency conviction, which he is challenging.
