Indonesia's beauty pageant

Indonesia's beauty pageant

From Media Indonesia

Indonesia's 2001 beauty contest final, broadcast live by Indosiar not only filled me with excitement, but also pride and awe. Although Indonesia is in the midst of uncertainty, Mustika Ratu and the Foundation of Indonesian Girls were still able to feature a program of national scale.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winners and the organizers on their success in presenting the event. We do hope that the winner can later become a successful ambassador for Indonesia in promoting tourism and boosting the image of its people to the world.

Lamentably, there is something that the organizers should have taken into consideration. When the contestant from North Sulawesi was given a chance to talk, she didn't care to express her gratitude to the province she represented, but instead made mention of a particular name. What she should have first done was to show pride for her province and then others. From that point, I am afraid that she could be judged incapable of playing her role as her province's ambassador for tourism.

Another point to note is that, during intervals, the organizers didn't stage traditional dances, e.g. Balinese or Betawi, although the event itself coincided with the 474th anniversary of Jakarta. On the contrary, the organizers featured creative dancing -- something which did not at all reflect the very mission of the program relating to tourism and culture.

This kind of program is related to the empowerment of women, so, therefore, it requires the support of the related minister. But, alas, I didn't catch sight of her face. I have no idea whether she had been invited or not, but Tantowi Yahya -- the Master of Ceremonies -- didn't mention her name or her representative in the event of her absence.

Hopefully, the next beauty contest will be much better.

ARIEF CH KERTAPATI

Jakarta