donning the famed bikinis at this year's pageant in Indonesia,
which has been replaced with the skimpy swimsuits with
conservative beach sarongs amid mounting protests from
hardline Muslim groups, organisers said Thursday.
All of the more than 130 contestants will be required to wear
Bali's traditional long sarongs instead of the sexy bikinis that
are historically part of the competition, said Adjie S
Soeratmadjie from the RCTI, the official broadcaster and local
organiser.
The pageant will be held on September 28 on the resort
island of Bali and in Sentul, an area near the capital, Jakarta,
Indonesia, a country noted as the world's most populous
Muslim country.
"There will be no bikini in this year's Miss World pageant to
respect our traditional customs and values," Soeratmadjie
said, adding that the London-based Miss World Organisation
is on board with the decision.
"This is a sensitive issue in Indonesia. We have discussed it
since last year and they have agreed," he said.
The Miss World Organisation did not immediately respond
to a written query.
Soeratmadjie said the sarong would be made creatively and
designed specifically for the event.
Controversy over the pageant has been mounting in
Indonesia, which has a reputation as a tolerant, pluralist
society that respects freedom of expression.
Clerics of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, or MUI, said they
would send a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
to demand that the beauty pageant be cancelled.
"That contest is just an excuse to show women's body parts
that should remain covered," said Mukri Aji, a prominent
cleric from West Java province's MUI branch. "It's against
Islamic teachings."
A hardline Islamic group, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, said it
planned to stage a protest and called for the competition to
be moved elsewhere.
Although most Muslims in Indonesia, a country of 240
million people, are moderate, but like in many countries of
the world, a small extremist fringe has become more vocal
in recent years, pushing through controversial laws –
including an anti-p****graphy bill – and have been known to
attack anything perceived as blasphemous, from
transvestites and bars to "deviant" religious sects.
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