RI participation in world pageant protested

RI participation in world pageant protested

JAKARTA (JP): An academic has come out against the
participation of Indonesian women in world modeling pageants
abroad.

The chief of the Women's Study Center at Surabaya Airlangga
University, Sanituti Hariadi, said to the Antara news agency on
Wednesday that the emancipation efforts of Indonesian women would
be tarnished by their participation in such a contest.

Sanituti also expressed regret that preparations for the
contest were being made by local women.

Such a pageant only serves to exploit female bodies, she said.

"Moreover, the pageant asks for the participant's physical
statistics, which really has nothing to do with the purpose of
the contest," she added.

Sanituti, who is also a lecturer at the university's School of
Social and Political Sciences, also expressed doubt that a model
with limited intellectual abilities would be able to represent
Indonesia in its efforts to promote tourism abroad.

Sanituti was reacting to the plan to select 15 Indonesian
participants for the New York pageant. The activity is being
sponsored by Putri Pertiwi and the Indonesian AIDS foundations
and SCTV, a privately-owned television network. The event will be
held in cooperation with New York-based Elite Model Management
agency.

Antara said that 200 local women took part in the first
selection rounds, which were held in June in Jakarta, Bandung and
Surabaya. The final round will be held in Jakarta on July 28.

The first winner from Indonesia will compete against
contestants from 46 countries in a grand final to be held in
Seoul, South Korea, next month.

The ten grand final winners will be awarded contracts with
Elite. (05)