The leaders of Indonesia and Malaysia added their voices on Saturday to the condemnation of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad () , whose publication has sparked outrage across the Islamic world.

But there was no repeat of Friday's protests in Jakarta and elsewhere in Asia, and both Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called on their countries' Muslims to exercise restraint.

"The Indonesian government condemns the printing of the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad. The insult to religious symbols have hurt the feelings of the Muslim," Yudhoyono, leader of the world's most-populous Muslim nation, told a news conference.

Many Muslims consider any image of the Prophet Mohammad to be blasphemous and offensive.

The offending cartoons first appeared in a Danish daily, Jyllands-Posten, last September. Newspapers in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Hungary reprinted the cartoons this week.

Two New Zealand newspapers followed suit on Saturday, becoming the first in the Asia-Pacific region to do so, bringing a warning from the country's Federation of Islamic Associations of repercussions for the economy.

Yudhoyono said the exercise of freedom of speech was not absolute and could not be allowed to curb other rights or insult others' beliefs.

His comments came a day after 300 angry Muslims stormed into the lobby of a building housing the Danish embassy in Jakarta. No protests over the cartoons were expected in the Indonesian capital during the weekend.

The Indonesian government has expressed its concern to Denmark's envoy to Jakarta. But Yudhoyono called on Indonesians to exercise restraint and accept an apology made by the Jyllands-Posten for the insult caused to many Muslims.

ACT OF PROVOCATION

Malaysia's Abdullah, in a statement, branded the publication of the images a deplorable act and a "blatant disregard for Islamic sensitivities."

He noted that it was even more regrettable that newspapers and in other European countries had reproduced the Danish newspaper's caricatures despite protests in the Islamic world.

"This is a deliberate act of provocation. They should cease and desist from doing so," said Abdullah, who is the current head of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

"Let the perpetrators of the insult see the gravity of their own mistakes, which only they themselves can and should correct."

The cartoons appeared on Saturday in New Zealand's Dominion Post and The Press, both of which are owned by Australia's Fairfax group.

"It's important for our readers to see what the fuss is about and to make up their own minds. Ours is a secular society based on western ideals of tolerance and open debate, even if that may occasionally offend," said Tim Pankhurst, Dominion Post's editor.

"We do not wish to be deliberately provocative but neither should we allow ourselves to be intimidated," he added.

New Zealand Federation of Islamic Associations President Javed Khan said the move could rebound on the economy.

The federation holds the national contract to certify meat slaughtered to traditional Islamic requirements.

"We won't call for a boycott, and we don't want to see one, but news gets around the world pretty quickly," he told the Dominion Post.

New Zealand is the world's biggest exporter of sheep meat, but exports to the Middle East made up only about 4 percent of total exports in the year to May, 2004, according to the Meat Industry Association of New Zealand.

PHOTO CAPTION

Indonesian Muslim protesters shout slogans as they march to the lobby of an office building housing the Danish Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Feb. 3, 2006. (AP)