By Andi Abdussalam Jakarta (Antara) - The Miss World pageant beauty contest now being organized in Indonesia has sparked controversies among mass organizations in the country. Hard-liners Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) and the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) have rejected the pageant beauty contest. A group of 11 Islamic social organizations has also rejected the plan to hold the Miss World contest in Bali saying it is against the national morals and culture. The organizations grouped in the Friendship Institution of Islamic Mass Organizations (LPOI) also rejected the event in a statement after a meeting of their leaders at the Nahdatul Ulama (NU) office on Wednesday. NU is the largest Islamic mass organization in Indonesia with members over 30 million. In the meantime, a Hindu youth organization has also taken to streets in Bali in protest against parties rejecting the Miss World pageant contest which it says would bring benefit to the country's economy, particularly the tourism sector. "We criticize parties who reject the organizing of the Miss World beauty contest in Indonesia. We support the Miss World event," said I Gede Mas Megantara, coordinator the rally on Monday. The FPI has vowed to disrupt the event, which takes place in a gathering in Bali on September 4 - 6, before the main ceremony on Sept. 28 at the Sentul International Convention Center in Bogor, West Java. "We should like to affirm that FPI rejects the holding of Miss World in Indonesia," FPI chairman Habib Rizieq Shihab said at a function marking the 15th anniversary of the mass organization. The contest is against religious norms because it exhibits parts of female body, he said. The FPI chief warned the government against issuing a permit to the contest's organizing committee. He also called on the people to reject the plan. "So it is the people who will speak. If the people act themselves to foil the Miss World, don't blame them, but blame the President and the DPR (House of Representatives) that have the authority but do not use it," he said last month. The HTI on Wednesday held a gathering in protest against the Miss World contest in the country. In connection with the gathering, Manager Nasution, a commissioner of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said the organizing of the event disregarded Indonesian sensitivities. "We have an Indonesian version of human rights. Since our people continue to oppose the holding of Miss World 2013, it is better not to organize the event here," he said at the gathering organised by the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) mass organization. (*)

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