Population Mobilized to Stop Miss Timor!!!

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Jornal Timor Post - Tuesday, 30 April 2013 

Thirteen Non Government Organizations have threatened to mobilize a popular demonstration to stop the Miss Timor beauty pageant, if the Ministry of Tourism, headed by Francisco Kalbuady goes head with it.

In the meantime the member of the Convention to Eradicate Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Milena Pires said that Miss Timor is not an integral part of the tourism development plan.

“ I am concerned with the planned Miss Timor is not properly integrated into the Tourism development plan itself, lest we will be putting out a message that is not positive instead, so I think this is a question that has to be properly debated,” Milena told journalists at the Presidential Palace, Monday 29 April last, when asked about the Miss Timor event being proposed.

“I am concerned with this planned event, because if we look at other countries, sex tourism has become problematic, as we can see in our own region, this has become a big issue,” Milena added.

She said, it is already known what positives the Miss Timor event proposed by the Ministry of Tourism will bring to the people.

Milena informed that in other countries where this issue has been discussed and analyzed by the CEDAW committee there is no specific report on Miss Timor or any other similar event, but there has been debate about the possible impacts on women.

“I can say that in the reports that the CEDAW committee has discussed regarding what has happened in other countries the specific question of Miss Timor or Miss Universe or Miss whatever has not been a specific issue, but what has been discussed is what impact or what may be the consequence of bad or improperly implemented policies.

The NGOs who are against the Miss Timor event include Pradet, FOKUPERS, Ajar, Hak, Alfela, Acbit, Lao Hamutuk, GFFTL, Caucus, Hasatil, Haburas Foundation, Forum.

“If the Minister for Tourism continues to be stubborn with pushing this Miss Timor event through, we will mobilize people to demonstrate against it,” declared the spokesperson for the Anti Miss Timor group Maria Jose Guterres at a press conference held at the Fokupers office in Farol, Monday 29 April last.  According to her, “the current conditions in the country still do not warrant such an event, more so to use state funds.”

Maria also said that the organizations concerned who are defenders of womens rights have been brought together in their anti Miss Timor campaign because they were taken by surprise that such an event suddenly emerged. 

“We are surprised because the situation in Timor-Leste is one where there are many existing problems affecting women’s rights, that deserve priority attention from the state of Timor-Leste, such as increasing domestic violence, the economic hardship women find themselves in as well as trafficking and exploitation of women,” Maria added.

Similarly Marciana Goncalves as a Timorese woman is concerned with this Miss Timor event.

“As a Timorese woman I disagree with this plan be the Ministry of Tourism, because of our current conditions, because we think there are other tourism priorities as well, such as Tourism infrastructure that remains abandoned,” Marciana said when interviewed by the Timor Post in Suco Talitu, last Sunday 28 April.

According to her, the Ministry of Tourism should give priority to Tourism capital projects.

“The question is this.  Has the Tourism Ministry surveyed the various potential tourism sites or not? This is one question, and because of this as a woman I am against the Miss Timor event because it is still not time to think about it,” Marciana commented. 

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