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)