Religion and politics take centre stage in Indonesian pageants
Salim Osman, The Straits Times/ANN, Singapore | World | Fri, September 27 2013, 12:23 PM
For weeks, Indonesians have been fixated on the issue of beauty pageants.
Hardline and conservative Muslims have been campaigning to stop Indonesia from hosting Miss World 2013, even after the government relented to their demand that the September 28 finals be moved from the outskirts of Jakarta in Muslim-dominant Java to the Hindu island of Bali.
Islamic conservatives have tried to cast the debate as one about morality. But it could just as easily be seen as having to do with politics, and in particular manoeuvring ahead of the presidential election next year.
Tellingly, both the government and Islamic conservatives have done little about Miss World's rival, World Muslimah. Organised by a local Muslim group, the latter event held its final round on Wednesday in the capital.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/09/27/religion-and-politics-take-centre-stage-indonesian-pageants.html
http://ads2.kompas.com/layer/muslimah/
(Online voting at the link above.)