Miss Universe contest

Miss Universe contest

From Media Indonesia

I watched an interesting program featuring "Women" on Metro TV on July 2, 2001. In the program the plan to send Miss Indonesia to the Miss Universe Contest was discussed. During the discussion, controversy over the objection by certain circles was brought up, as they viewed the competition as incompatible with religious teachings and eastern norms. For me, the case, from that perspective, is already very clear. What remains to be questioned is the effectiveness of sending a representative to the Miss Universe contest which is only symbolic in nature.

Some people view that sending "an envoy" to the Miss Universe Contest improves the image of Indonesia in the world. But, sending an envoy while the country's economy is in a mess is a great waste. Because with the fast flow of information nowadays, other countries know very well what Indonesia is like at present.

The world knows that Indonesia is gripped by huge debts. They know about the poor educational standards. They feel concerned about the human tragedies taking place one after the other.

Without belittling the efforts of Yayasan Putri Indonesia (Miss Indonesia Foundation), I suggest that the foundation carry out a radical evaluation of the effectiveness of its activities with regards the empowerment of Indonesian women.

NUKLINDANA DK

Jakarta