miss indonesia

The Miss Indonesia 2008 beauty pageant in Palembang.

The Miss Indonesia beauty contest in Palembang is accused of spreading syphilis.


Unfit

The Grand Final of the Miss Indonesia 2008 beauty pageant selection process, which had been scheduled to take place in Palembang, South Sumatra, was cancelled by provincial governor Syahrial Oesman on 23rd January 2008.

I’ve cancelled it, it’s really not fit to be held in Palembang.

The contest had been part of the “Visit Musi 2008″ tourist campaign (named after the River Musi in Palembang) but had aroused a lot of opposition in some Islamic circles. From the outset the local office of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) opposed it, as did the Golkar and Justice (PKS) parties. MUI chairman Drs KH Sodikun said:

There is a lot of sin in Miss Indonesia and we’re worried that it will bring disaster.

Indonesia was already known as the number two country in the world for pornography and immorality, he said:

Let’s keep South Sumatra out of it if possible.

Other parts of Indonesia were more suitable:

Just move the contest to another area.

However Drs KH Sodikun was careful to point out that the MUI’s opposition to the Miss Indonesia contest did not mean the MUI “hated” the province’s government: [1]

Muslim clerics love South Sumatra and love the government.

Syphilis

And on 24th January about 100 demonstrators marched on the local parliament building. A spokesman for the protesters, Mahmud Jamrur, said:

We oppose the holding of the Miss Indonesia contest in South Sumatra because it is against Islamic law, as set out in the MUI fatwa 287 of 2001, which forbids pornography and indecency.

A petition containing 1800 signatures was handed over to parliament head Syaiful Islam. Syaiful agreed that Miss Indonesia really was not fit to be held in South Sumatra.

The demonstrators belonged to a group called Masyarakat Sumsel Anti-Sipilis (MASSIP), “South Sumatrans Against Syphilis/Sipilis”. [2] “Sipilis” appears to be an acronym for sekularisme, pluralisme [agama], dan liberalisme, and is based on another MUI fatwa, the one condemning Religious Pluralism, Liberalism, and Secularism, from 2005