ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how beauty contests and beauty queens have been positioned as symbols of nationhood during Indonesia's two most recent political regimes, the New Order period and the Reformasi era. Currently, in the post-Soeharto Reformasi era, while some people have focused on matters such as the ethnic representation of the nation through beauty queens, Islamic groups have objected to beauty queens participating in international contests, a practice banned during Soeharto's New Order, and technically still prohibited under national legislation. Unlike the Old Order, the early days of the New Order were pro-Western, as the government courted Western investment for economic development. The Reformasi era, after Soeharto stepped down in 1998, brought a renewal of debate about beauty queen contests within Indonesia, as Yayasan Puteri Indonesia (YPI) and the organisers of Miss Indonesia began to test the legislation by again sending participants to international contests.
