JAKARTA ~ Next week, Indonesia will issue a special set of stamps to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Pig – but minus the star of the show.

The set will feature all 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac with the exception of the pig, an animal regarded by Muslims as unclean.

The stamps are the first to mark the Lunar Year in the world’s most populous Muslim majority country since it was designated a national holiday in 2000.

“Indonesia never outwardly printed anything on this theme,” Pos Indonesia director Hana Suryana was quoted as saying by the state Antara news agency.

“It is difficult for us not to issue the Chinese New Year stamps especially after the revisions (in the design),” he said.

Each animal in the zodiac will have its own stamp except the pig, which has been replaced by a stamp featuring a Chinese temple surrounded by 12 small versions of the zodiac animals.

The stamps will be issued on February 14, ahead of the start of the Year of the Pig on the 18th.

After decades of official suppression, Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority is now allowed to openly celebrate the Lunar New Year.