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In support of action against beauty pageant
| Dr Azizi Ayob, | 27 November 2011 |
I was in utter disbelief to read a report over the Sarawak Islamic Affairs Department's (JAIS) questioning of five Muslim beauty contestants, claiming they did nothing wrong by participating in the Miss Borneo Beautiful (MBB) 2011 contest.
I personally feel JAIS's move to advise them against participating the contest was in line with Islam's defence of Muslim women as stated in the Holy Qur'an. JAIS had fulfilled their duty in advising them to withdraw from the beauty contest.
In defense of JAIS, I do not think the department acted out simply to avoid the negative perception from the other Muslims or fear of being accused of not doing their job. I applaud JAIS for their firmness to take such 'unpopular' action and to remind fellow Muslims in observing the teachings of Islam. As Muslims, it is our duty to support its decision on beauty pageants.
Although it is argued that there was no swimsuit segment, parading in public in a pageant known for exploiting women’s physical feature is not in line with Islamic tenets. Their reason that some people were 'envious' of them and the hard work preparing for the contest would go to waste is baseless.
I fully back JAIS's decision and disagree with the twisted facts that JAIS was not in the position to advise the five contestants to participate in the pageant. It has the full authority to do so and as Muslims we support the department. It is certainly erroneous to imply that this prohibition of participating beauty pageants will deny Muslim women the mainstream and modern way of life.
* The author is a Member of Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA)