As of Wednesday, a total of eight contestants had reported staffers of organizer PT Capella Swastika Karya (CSK), the Indonesian franchisee of the Miss Universe beauty pageant, to the Jakarta Police for inappropriate behavior during what they claimed was an unscheduled session. They also accused the organizer of violating the 2022 Sexual Violence Law.

A finalist identified only as N became the first to report the incident when she went to the police on Monday. The seven other contestants filed their reports on successive days until Wednesday, said their lawyer Melissa Anggraeni.

The police on Wednesday questioned all eight women, including the five contestants who attended the questionable “body check” session, Melissa added.

The session was conducted in the ballroom of a luxury hotel in Central Jakarta on Aug. 1, two days before the pageant’s grand finale, according to the plaintiff.

Known locally as MUID, the contest was held in Jakarta from July 29 to Aug. 3 to select Indonesia’s representative to Miss Universe 2023.

During the session, N and other contestants were ordered to strip half-naked in front of several staff members, including men. The staffers then took pictures of N and other contestants, Melissa said.

“But the body checking wasn’t included in the official event schedule. Even the pageant’s provincial directors were not informed of such a session,” Melissa said.

“What the staffers did was degrading to the women’s honor and dignity. Who can guarantee that the pictures will not be leaked?” she added.

Not in other pageants

Some finalists had come forward to share what they had experienced during the “body check” session.

Priskilla Jelita, a finalist from West Java, said the contest’s staff called her to the ballroom for a gown fitting for the grand finale.

“But when I entered the ballroom, they asked me to undress and remove my bra,” she said in a press conference on Monday. “There were several staff members there, including three men.”

Priskilla added that the staffers yelled at her when she tried to cover herself up.

Another finalist from West Java, Ratih Widiartha, was also told to undress and pose suggestively, after which staff members took her pictures. A male staffer also touched her inappropriately during the session, she recounted.

"I feel very degraded as a woman. I have participated in other beauty pageant contests, but I have never experienced such a thing," Ratih said.

Responding to the allegations, CSK said it would conduct a thorough review and investigation.

“We will immediately take the necessary actions regarding this issue to clarify and ascertain the truth,” Poppy Capella, CSK owner and national director of Miss Universe Indonesia, said in a statement posted to Instagram Story on Tuesday.

Support victims

Several finalists also reported the incident to the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), which then urged police to investigate the case thoroughly, as well as confiscate any photos or videos taken during the “body check” session to prevent their being leaked to the public.

Komnas Perempuan head Andy Yentriyani said some victims were bullied on social media for complaining about the “body check”, with some commenters claimed were normal for a pageant.

Others criticized the contestants for participating in an event that was deemed to contribute to the objectification of women and glorifying Western beauty standards, she said.

"We need to appreciate the victims' courage to report the case to the authorities and uphold their rights,” Andy said in a statement on Wednesday.

“It is also very important to not use criticisms against beauty pageants [in general] to silence the victims," she said.

This year’s Miss Universe Indonesia also has been hit by other controversies in addition to the sexual harassment allegations.

Rumors have circulated on social media that the organizers accepted bribes from winner Fabienne Nicole, who will represent Indonesia at the 72nd Miss Universe in El Salvador in November.

Fabienne is the daughter of Natalia Tanudjaja, executive director of real estate developer MNC Land, a subsidiary of MNC Group, one of Indonesia’s largest media conglomerates.

The rumors began after it was revealed that Fabienne did not meet the local contest’s minimum height requirement of 168 centimeters.

CSK’s Poppy described the bribery rumors as “baseless and false” and defended scrapping the height requirement as an “inclusive” measure.

“Our provincial directors, who held their competitions at an earlier stage, selected several winners who did not meet the previous minimum height requirement. These events were organized in good faith, and it would have been unjust to disqualify their winners based on a criterion that could be regarded as nonessential,” she wrote in a separate statement on Monday.

Miss Universe Indonesia 2023 was the first contest to be held under CSK, after it took over from the country’s oldest beauty pageant organizer Yayasan Putri Indonesia, which had been the contest’s local franchisee for the last 30 years.

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