Miss World pageant calls off bikini contest to respect Indonesian Muslims
JAKARTA, Indonesia — In a move sure to delight anyone who watches beauty pageants not for the swimsuit competition, but for the parts where contestants play instruments and talk about world hunger, the billionaire organizer of the Miss World pageant declared Thursday that there would be no bikinis this year.
“It has been misunderstood by some people that Miss World is a beauty competition focusing on the physical attractiveness of a woman’s body,” the organizer, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, an Indonesian media tycoon, said.
“This is absolutely misleading,” Mr. Tanoesoedibjo said, adding that the pageant is also about “inner beauty, which includes intelligence, manners and achievement.”
Bathing suits will not be eradicated completely from the contest, a multiweek extravaganza that is to begin Sept. 4 and culminate Sept. 28, when the finals in Jakarta are broadcast around the world.
But instead of showing off their figures in racy, skin-flaunting two-piece suits, the contestants will be swathed in more modest one-pieces, accessorized with beachwear like wraps and hats.
Several years ago, the Miss World pageant rebranded the traditional bathing suit contest, calling it a “beach fashion show” in which contestants would wear suits created by local fashion designers. In keeping with this year’s demure sensibility, Indonesia’s beach fashion show will not be televised live, but taped in front of a small audience limited to judges, organizers and guests.
Nana Putra, project director for programming and production at MNC, the media conglomerate that is organizing the competition, declined to say whether specific rules dictate what portions of, or how much, skin can be exposed. The bottom line, she said, is that “we will not have any bikinis, either taped or live.”
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, with about 90 percent of its population of 242 million people identifying themselves as Muslim. But it has a secular government constitution, and prominent minority populations that include Christians, Balinese Hindus and Buddhists.
The announcement on Thursday seemed intended in part to mollify a small but vocal group of religious conservatives who regularly stage street protests in Jakarta on issues they feel strongly about, like American foreign policy, Israel and Lady Gaga, whom some have called a devil worshiper. Lady Gaga was to have performed here last year, but ended up canceling because of security concerns.
In recent weeks, this group has turned its attention to the impending Miss World pageant.
“That contest is just an excuse to show women’s body parts that should remain covered,” Mukri Aji, a prominent Muslim cleric, told The Associated Press.
In an interview, Ms. Putra said it was wrong to focus on the bathing suit question, since so much else was going on in the pageant. “The beach fashion show is just a very small part of the competition, actually,” she said.
Julia Morley, chairwoman and chief executive of Miss World in London, said there had been other years when contestants wore one-piece suits. And, she said, no one in Indonesia has specifically banned anything, per se.
“I did make sure to conform to the rules in Indonesia, which I thought were perfectly reasonable rules,” Ms. Morley said. “I’m working with 137 countries, and all of them have different rules.”
Mr. Tanoesoedibjo said he was working hard to persuade skeptics that the pageant truly is more about minds and spirits than about bodies.
“We are now trying to explain what a Miss World pageant is all about,” he said.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — In a move sure to delight anyone who watches beauty pageants not for the swimsuit competition, but for the parts where contestants play instruments and talk about world hunger, the billionaire organizer of the Miss World pageant declared Thursday that there would be no bikinis this year.
“It has been misunderstood by some people that Miss World is a beauty competition focusing on the physical attractiveness of a woman’s body,” the organizer, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, an Indonesian media tycoon, said.
“This is absolutely misleading,” Mr. Tanoesoedibjo said, adding that the pageant is also about “inner beauty, which includes intelligence, manners and achievement.”
Bathing suits will not be eradicated completely from the contest, a multiweek extravaganza that is to begin Sept. 4 and culminate Sept. 28, when the finals in Jakarta are broadcast around the world.
But instead of showing off their figures in racy, skin-flaunting two-piece suits, the contestants will be swathed in more modest one-pieces, accessorized with beachwear like wraps and hats.
Several years ago, the Miss World pageant rebranded the traditional bathing suit contest, calling it a “beach fashion show” in which contestants would wear suits created by local fashion designers. In keeping with this year’s demure sensibility, Indonesia’s beach fashion show will not be televised live, but taped in front of a small audience limited to judges, organizers and guests.
Nana Putra, project director for programming and production at MNC, the media conglomerate that is organizing the competition, declined to say whether specific rules dictate what portions of, or how much, skin can be exposed. The bottom line, she said, is that “we will not have any bikinis, either taped or live.”
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, with about 90 percent of its population of 242 million people identifying themselves as Muslim. But it has a secular government constitution, and prominent minority populations that include Christians, Balinese Hindus and Buddhists.
The announcement on Thursday seemed intended in part to mollify a small but vocal group of religious conservatives who regularly stage street protests in Jakarta on issues they feel strongly about, like American foreign policy, Israel and Lady Gaga, whom some have called a devil worshiper. Lady Gaga was to have performed here last year, but ended up canceling because of security concerns.
In recent weeks, this group has turned its attention to the impending Miss World pageant.
“That contest is just an excuse to show women’s body parts that should remain covered,” Mukri Aji, a prominent Muslim cleric, told The Associated Press.
In an interview, Ms. Putra said it was wrong to focus on the bathing suit question, since so much else was going on in the pageant. “The beach fashion show is just a very small part of the competition, actually,” she said.
Julia Morley, chairwoman and chief executive of Miss World in London, said there had been other years when contestants wore one-piece suits. And, she said, no one in Indonesia has specifically banned anything, per se.
“I did make sure to conform to the rules in Indonesia, which I thought were perfectly reasonable rules,” Ms. Morley said. “I’m working with 137 countries, and all of them have different rules.”
Mr. Tanoesoedibjo said he was working hard to persuade skeptics that the pageant truly is more about minds and spirits than about bodies.
“We are now trying to explain what a Miss World pageant is all about,” he said.
