Contestants in this year’s Miss Universe Indonesia pageant have been speaking out about the sexual harassment they say local organizers subjected them to, even as the same organizers appear to have crowned a winner in neighboring Malaysia, despite that pageant having been canceled by the U.S. umbrella group.
The New York-based Miss Universe Organization, which holds the international beauty pageant each year, severed ties with its Indonesian franchisee in August over allegations that 30 contestants in the Southeast Asian country’s pageant had been required to undergo “body checks” in front of local organizers without notice or consent.
On Aug. 1, two days before the Grand Final, finalists were told to take turns for what they thought was a clothes fitting in a ballroom at a hotel in downtown Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, where the pageant was being held, said Lola Nadya Larasati Pasaribu, who was representing Bali in the competition.
When Pasaribu entered the partially enclosed wooden structure, there were half a dozen people inside, including both men and women, she said in a statement shared by her attorney, Mellisa Anggraini.
One of the women “asked me to take off my clothes and underclothes,” Pasaribu said, and took photos of a tattoo on her body.
The process was “very demeaning to my dignity as a woman,” Pasaribu said, adding that the photo-taking and “body shaming” comments violated social norms in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
Pasaribu said she felt she couldn’t object to the body check because of “pressure and insistence from the organization.”
Eight contestants, including Pasaribu, have provided testimony to the police, said Anggraini, who is representing all of them. She said the contestants were not told about the body checks in advance and that Pasaribu was one of five contestants who were photographed using cell phones.
“Of course the contestants felt shocked, embarrassed, uncomfortable and humiliated,” Anggraini said. “Even when they conveyed their discomfort, they were yelled at.”
Indonesian police said Aug. 29 that the case had been elevated from an initial inquiry to an investigation, meaning a criminal element is involved.
In response to the allegations, the Miss Universe Organization cut ties with the Indonesian franchisee, beauty company PT Capella Swastika Karya, and its founder Poppy Capella, saying contestants’ safety was its top priority and the events in Indonesia were “diametrically opposed to everything we stand for as an organization.”
It said the winner of this year’s Indonesia pageant, Fabienne Nicole Groeneveld, who was not among the contestants who filed complaints, would represent the country at the Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador in November.
Capella, who was overseeing Miss Universe Indonesia for the first time, denied any involvement in the body checks, saying she was “opposed to every form of violence or sexual harassment.”
“I as a national director and as the owner of the permit of Miss Universe Indonesia was not involved at all and did not ever know, instruct, ask, or allow anyone who was involved and participated in the process of organizing Miss Universe Indonesia 2023 to have committed sexual harassment through body checking as has been widely reported,” she said in an Aug. 12 Instagram post.
The Miss Universe Organization also announced the cancellation of this year’s Miss Universe Malaysia pageant, which Capella had the license for as well. But in an Instagram post on Aug. 27, Miss Universe Malaysia announced a winner.
The Miss Universe Organization said it was “surprised” to see the post.
“As of August 12th there is no director in Malaysia and no one has been authorized to conduct a Miss Universe Malaysia pageant,” a representative said in response to an inquiry from NBC News.
Capella did not respond to a request for comment via Instagram.
The sexual harassment allegations have shocked Indonesia, drawing condemnation from lawmakers.
“We must also uphold and respect the cultural wisdom and religious values prevailing in the country,” Ashabul Kahfi, chairman of a commission on women’s empowerment affairs in the Indonesian House of Representatives, said in a statement. “Actions like this not only violate individual rights, but also hurt people’s trust in the system, which should protect them.”
