diff --git a/PIL/PpmImagePlugin.py b/PIL/PpmImagePlugin.py
index bd1b7a364..be68d1b40 100644
--- a/PIL/PpmImagePlugin.py
+++ b/PIL/PpmImagePlugin.py
@@ -24,16 +24,7 @@ __version__ = "0.2"
 #
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-b_whitespace = string.whitespace
-try:
-    import locale
-    locale_lang, locale_enc = locale.getlocale()
-    if locale_enc is None:
-        locale_lang, locale_enc = locale.getdefaultlocale()
-    b_whitespace = b_whitespace.decode(locale_enc)
-except:
-    pass
-b_whitespace = b_whitespace.encode('ascii', 'ignore')
+b_whitespace = b'\x20\x09\x0a\x0b\x0c\x0d'
 
 MODES = {
     # standard