Miss World Contest: Indonasian Muslim hardliners resume protests, say event must not hold

Protesters

Protests continue in Indonesia capital, Jakarta when Muslim hardliners resumed protests Thursday against the Miss World pageant, as the event organizers refused to yield to the earlier protest against the event, insisting the event would go on as scheduled this weekend in Bali’s resort Ireland.
About 1,000 members of the Islamic group, Hizbut Tahrir in Indonesia converged outside the building, housing the local organizer of the contest to protest thier unyielding intention to hold the event.

Chanting “Allah Akbar ”or“ God is great,” the protesters, mostly women, waved banners reading “Reject Miss World.”

 Also, at Sumatran cities of Medan and Pekanbaru, protests were held, including Makassar in Sulawesi. Protesters were requesting that the the permit for the contest be rvoked.
The local organizer had insisted on holding the event as scheduled. MNC media group said it was not possible to cancel the contest or move the location, and that the government had pledged to provide security for the event.

“I think there is a misunderstanding,” Hary Tanoesoedibjo, head of MNC, told reporters Wednesday in Bali. “I assure that there will be nothing that runs against our culture. I would not accept if there was a bikini show.”

The chairwoman of the Miss World Organization, Julia Morley, earlier promised that the contestants would not be allowed to wear bikini at the event.

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