Miss World organizers defend Indonesia pageant

BALI, Indonesia – The organizers of the Miss World beauty pageant in Indonesia insisted Wednesday the show would go on, as Islamic hardline protests began to spread across the country days before the contest starts.

Hardliners have started mobilizing to protest at the decision to host the contest in Muslim-majority Indonesia, while Islamic clerics and even a government minister have voiced criticism.

After a protest in the capital Jakarta this week, more than 600 demonstrators took to the streets Wednesday in two other major cities on the main island of Java — Surabaya and Bandung.

“Miss World is an immoral event. If it goes ahead, we will all be punished by God,” one protester shouted to the crowd in Bandung, where some 300 protesters responded with chants of “God is great.”

They brandished banners reading “Do not sully Indonesia with the Miss World event.” In Surabaya, some 350 Muslims took to the streets.

But Hary Tanoesoedibjo, head of MNC media group, which will broadcast the pageant and is also the local organizer, defended the contest.

“I can assure you that there is nothing in this event that isn’t in accordance with our culture,” he told reporters on the resort island of Bali, where the contest opens Sunday.

And Budi Rustanto, a member of the local organizing body, told reporters in Jakarta: “There is no attempt to exploit the contestants, whether that be through them wearing bikinis, undressing or measuring the size of body parts.”

The organizers have already agreed to axe the famed bikini round from this year’s contests, with participants instead set to wear more conservative sarongs, but the move has failed to appease hardliners.

More than 120 contestants have already arrived in Indonesia for the pageant. The final will take place outside Jakarta on September 28.

READ: Megan Young leaves for Indonesia

While most Indonesians in the nation of more than 240 million people practice a moderate form of Islam, a vocal hardline fringe has succeeded in getting events cancelled in the past. – Rappler.com

You can also read:

• Megan Young leaves for Indonesia
• Indonesian Muslim hardliners protest against Miss World
• Megan Young ready for Miss World 2013
• Indonesian minister wants cancellation of Miss World
• Indonesian rights official rejects Miss World
• Sash Factor and PH pageant mania
• Megan Young 2nd in Ms World app poll
• Mutya Datul is Miss Personality at Supranational 2013
• The beauty pageant experts: OPMB
• Will Megan Young win Miss World title?
• IN PHOTOS: Ms World Ph 2013 coronation
• WINNERS: Miss World Ph 2013
• AS IT HAPPENS: Miss World Ph 2013 coronation night
• Live Blog: Miss World Ph 2013 coronation night
• Girls to watch: Miss World Ph 2013
• IN PHOTOS: Miss World Ph Gala
• Mutya Datul off to Ms Supranational
• Beauty pageant 101: The other pageants
• Pageants: It’s a man’s world, too!
• Big 4: The ‘Olympics of beauty’