Associated Press & Putri Prameshwari

Miss Indonesia, Zivanna Letisha Siregar, joining Miss Ireland, Miss Israel and Miss Italy on stage during the swimsuit event held on Aug.16 as part of the preliminary stage of this year’s Miss Universe Competition, on Paradise Island, Bahamas. (Photo: Brennan Linsley, AP)

Miss Indonesia Tops Miss Universe Poll

The Miss Universe contestant from Indonesia has emerged as the crowd favorite on the eve of the pageant finale, topping an online poll sponsored by the event.

Miss Indonesia Zivanna Letisha Siregar led the poll in which tens of thousands of observers cast anonymous votes via the Internet, followed by Miss Brazil, Larissa Costa, and Miss Guatemala, Lourdes Figueroa.

Contest officials had to close a comment section of the online poll because more than 50,000 submissions were recorded in the first couple of days.

“It was just so excessive,” said Carl Althoff, a spokesman for the pageant. “We weren’t able to monitor them.”

Zivanna is the second Indonesian to get through the big 15, after Artika Sari Devi in 2005. The 56th annual pageant is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., Jakarta time.

Protests have surrounded Indonesia’s participation in the beauty pageant since the country’s first representative was sent more than a decade ago.

In 1995, Yayasan Puteri Indonesia (Miss Indonesia Foundation), led by former Education Minister Wardiman Djojonegoro, sent Shanty Manuhutu to the international pageant.

However, the Suharto administration disapproved of the idea and issued a regulation banning all Indonesian women from enrolling in beauty pageants.

In 2005, seven years after Suharto resigned and the reform era began, the foundation resumed sending winners of the Puteri Indonesia pageant amid protests from several hard-line groups.

The Islam’s Defender Front (FPI) constantly calls for the government to stop sending Indonesian women to such pageants, citing the event as inappropriate within Islamic culture.

This year’s finale is being held in the Bahamas. Dozens of tourists gathered around the media center at the Atlantis Hotel on Saturday, trying to get a glimpse of the ballroom where the event would take place.

Tourism officials in the Bahamas hoped the pageant will stimulate an economy hard hit by the global economic crisis: The Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma hotel announced in May that it would close, and pageant host the Atlantis dismissed about 800 employees this season.

By Saturday night, about 2,700 tickets for the show were sold of the 3,100 available, said Glenda Johnson of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.

NBC will provide live coverage of the event, featuring musical talents Flo Rida, Heidi Montag, David Guetta and Kelly Rowland. In Indonesia, the pageant has been aired on Indosiar every year.

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