Apart from the protests, she said, her family was also upset with her. She also
claimed her movements were being monitored by certain groups.
All because of a misunderstanding, she said.
'Yes, I did say that I wanted to pose for Playboy Indonesia but not in the
nude.
'I would have posed in my usual outfits,' said Inul, who is known for her
extremely tight and revealing stage costumes.
Last Friday afternoon, a group of demonstrators showed up at her home in Pondoh
Indah in south Jakarta.
They held placards which said 'Ngebur aja Nul, jangan bogel', which translated
from Bahasa Indonesia meant: 'Just shake it Nul, don't strip.'
She reportedly apologised to the crowd out of panic.
She told The New Paper that she apologised to the protestors to calm them down.
'They are, after all, my fans. The media reports were greatly exaggerated and
sensationalised.
'I am very traumatised and shocked by this whole event,' she added.
After the demonstrations outside her home, she is scared to venture out without
security.
When The New Paper spoke with her, she was rehearsing for a TV appearance at a
secret location.
She has had to change her telephone number several times, while her manager and
husband, Mr Adam Suseno, has been avoiding calls from the media.
When The New Paper contacted Mr Adam, he immediately turned off his handphone.
He, however, told Indonesian newspaper Pos Kota on Friday that his wife had
made those remarks in jest.
'I will certainly not agree to my wife posing in the nude,' he said.
Inul said that the controversy has also affected her family.
Family Angry
She comes from a conservative Muslim family in East Java.
'I come from a fanatical family, so this controversy has affected them too,'
she said.
'They are very angry with me.'
She also lashed out at organisations such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI),
which is one of her biggest critics.
'Being a personality, I know my every movement is being monitored.
'The FPI is very extreme. They need to know that Indonesia is not just a Muslim
country.
'It is a democratic country with Hindus and Christians as well,' she said.
So was it a publicity stunt?
After all, Inul does have a new dangdut album out and Playboy Indonesia is in
the news after protests against its launch last Thursday.
Protestors vandalised the offices of the magazine, a much tamer version of the
American one.
The publication has since moved out of the office but has not been shut down.
Coincidentally, it was the same time that Inul reportedly made her remarks.
'Would I want this much havoc for publicity? I don't need it,' she said.
Inul is indeed a beacon for controversy since she emerged on the dangdut scene
in 2003.
Dangdut is a blend of Indian, Arab and Indonesian folk-pop music, popular in
the 1950s and 1960s in Indonesia and Malaysia.
It has a reputation of being the music of the working class with bawdy lyrics
and suggestive dance moves.
She enjoys such popularity that Indonesian political parties tried to make her
endorse them in the 2004 elections.
But she is very sure of the influence she has on her fans.
'My image with the people is still strong. They know I won't do such things,'
she said.
Fans in Singapore believed that Inul will never pose in the nude.
She performed here in 2004 drawing more than 700 fans to her concert at the
Marine Parade Community Centre.
Indonesian domestic helper Nurifah Rafidi, 36, said: 'I don't believe that she
will strip for a magazine.
'Her performances are very sexy but she still has morals.'
