Posted by The newly crowned Miss Indonesia, Karenina Sunny Halim, has impressed the judges with her fluent English and her intelligence. To people’s surprise Karenina answered questions by the judges in English but needed a translator to understand the question that was being asked in Indonesian.
While the Miss Indonesia beauty pagant is meant to choose an Indonesian woman to represent Indonesia, the half Indo – half American winner can not even speak the language of the country she’s representing fluently. She said that her immediate task now is to learn Indonesian and was convinced that she will manage to learn it fast as it was an “easy language”. Apparently, after 23 years of growing up in Indonesia, she never bothered to actually learn to speak the language until now that she is representing the country which language she still has to learn.
Her brother defended her by saying that Karenina never had the chance to speak Indonesian as she was more of a homebody who never hung out with Indonesians to be exposed to the language. Makes me wonder how much of the culture of Indonesia does Karenina actually understand then? I find it stunning that the person crowned as Miss Indonesia knows little about the Indonesian culture and doesn’t even speak the language.
The article about Miss Indonesia’s comment to learn Indonesians have received strong comments about this “bad joke”. Willy in Jakarta wrote,
“This is the most absurd thing I have heard in my life. How can the judges allow such woman to win when clearly she cannot communicate in bahasa. Kerenina should have brushed up in her language skills before joing the pagent.”
Another comment by Imelda was,
“If being able to speak Indonesian and having knowledge of our culture are not the requirements, why didn’t the judges just pick a much prettier and smarter foreign woman, give her an Indonesian passport and make her Miss Indonesia?”
A comment by Stan pretty much sums up what is happening in this beauty pagent joke: the way Indonesians almost “worship” mixed blood – Indonesian exoticm and beauty with the white skin of the Whites,
“What a funny story, so miss Indonesia needed a translator to help her understand bahasa Indonesia, she says dont know much about Indonesian culture and still she was voted miss Indonesia what a stupid choice? people should understand the meaning of representation not just a game of preference. why because she is mixed or there is no other girls around.. what a joke? This clamor for white skin would not help Indonesia anywhere. Indonesia is not a white country and would never be so be proud of your heritage and God given natural skin! Afterall many white people prefer those brown Indonesian skin which is sexier and better than those pale white skin. But unfortunately some do not understand why.”
Today the world is laughing at what has happened. How ridiculous Indonesians can be to actually allow this to happen! The judges who can’t even consider the consequences of their choice in the international world reason that it would be humiliating to have a non-English speaking Indonesian represent Indonesia in Miss World. But Miss World has not even begun yet and we are already being humiliated in big news portals such as MSN and Reuters. This humiliation is even worse than to have a Miss Indonesia who can not speak English in the Miss World pageant!
Miss Indonesia 2009
Popularity: 61% [?]
Well she is indeed a beutiful woman however, Indonesia is well able to present beutiful women – of own ‘make” (my wife for a start
). Having said this I do not think it is fair to hold the result against Miss Halim rather one should flog the arrangers of this pagant who should have thought it through.
True. I do feel sorry for her now that she is in an uncomfortable position.
The fact that the Miss Indonesia crown is given to an Indonesian who doesn’t speak Indonesian shows the disregard for appreciation of Indonesian heritage. The world needs to see a true portrait of Indonesia; polite, diverse, although sometimes lacking fluency in english. Appointing someone based solely on their fluency of foreign languages truly conveys a message : Indonesia is willing to shed its’ identity in order to conform and gain acceptance from the world. Do we really want to be represented in that way?
The judge isn’t appreciated Indonesian Language and culture…they just judge it from her cover….The Worst Miss Indonesia Ever!!
As an instructor of Bahasa Indonesia, I’d like to invite Miss Indonesia 2009 to learn OUR national language. After completing the “Advanced Indonesian”, she can tell the public one more time if Bahasa Indonesia is, indeed, an “easy language”.
Ini yang namanya Ironic….
Come on guys! Give her chances to prove us wrong!
Indonesia is about tolerance, honour, respect, etc (these are why I love my country so much).
Yeah, I agree with statement “Bahasa Indonesia is very important for Miss Indonesia”. But, What’s wrong with Girl who r not be able to speak Bahasa well and crowning as Miss Indonesia? The main point is she’s still proud saying “I’m Indonesian”. That’s why we are unite to one nation, bangsa Indonesia, though outthere still a lot of Indonesian who cant speak Bahasa at all (dont ask me “who”). We must realize that “Bahasa Indonesia actually is not the first language for most of Indonesian” but yeah, we must place it in the first place of our language no matter how, and this is What she (Karenina, Miss Indonesia), is still doing. She tries to learn it, doesnt she.
This time is for us to say n understand “Dont judge the book by its cover”. Like this case, Dont judge she’s bla bla bla . . . Who knows, she loves Indonesia more than us inside her heart? Who knows . . .
I do agree not to judge a book by its cover. We shall not blame her for being chosen despite of her poor Bahasa Indonesia. I wish her luck in her studies by saying “That’s about bloody time you learned your country’s language.”
My regret lies only with the fact that sometimes pageants like this puts beauty on top of everything else. And I also regret the fact that most Indonesian media portrays Indonesians as people who worship foreigners or foreign descendants more than their own (and I admit this is not necessarily true in the wider community). Remember Cinta Laura naik ojhek waktu bechuek? We should really start to dig deeper (or go back to doing so), to find 100% Indonesians who can represent Indonesia in the world or in the fashion and entertainment industry. I miss the days of Alya Rohali, Susanty Manuhutu, and many other ‘orang Indonesia tulen’.
What is beauty? It is subjective.
It’s true that this blog can have an opinion on its own too.. But hey, have you actually watched the telecast of how she got selected? Heck, the other 2 finalist didn’t even finish their answers!
I agree with Lando in this.. who knows, she loves Indonesia more than us inside her heart.. Languages aside, if she can actually volunteer teaching to kids in Aceh, doesn’t that already mean that she can fully communicate with them and give those kids something of value?
Now just about how many ppl would’ve dared to do the same? Even if we are paid for it, I’d doubt most of us actually will take up on the offer.. Think about that..
Hahaha! Pro and con situation huh! I guess to be Miss Indonesia,, The requirement is the person should has a strong background with Indonesia with the whole packages. If she doesn’t even can’t speak bahasa, grow up in foreign country…. Why should she bother to represent Indonesia? No matter how pleasant she is! Come on this is MISS INDONESIA,,,we are talking. She will be the ambassador of Indonesia boy! Cant she just follow Miss. Clear and Clear OR what so ever pageant competition are they in the market????
ever thought that there’s a slight consideration judges chose her maybe because she could win miss world?
I watched briefly Miss Indonesia pageant on TV, karenina was calm, good presentation, and yes very native english.
Although I’m not saying she couldn’t speak bahasa indonesia while holding status as Miss Indonesia is not absurd.
Andira, I did not write this post and agree with you 100 percent. I myself would have given her extra consideration based on it.
Based on a few clips provided in YouTube, she indeed appeared to be a well-spoken woman. No question that she is a beautiful girl. Yet, the judges overrated her understanding of Indonesian’s culture, values, and language, which seemed to be below the learning curve. This is such a disheartening phenomenon. The judges’ decisions are the one in question. Her fluent in English may leverage her competitive edge for the upcoming Miss World event. However, are we representing a “foreigner” or an Indonesian?
This is a tough call for everybody. After the ‘great embarrassment’ and brouhaha of our former Miss Indonesia making mistakes in English I think the judges were so relieved at seeing an Indonesian speaking fluent english that they forgot about everything else. And she definitely is pretty so I think they probably considered it a good done deal.
It’s a tough call for Miss Indonesia too … I can relate because I am an Indonesian living in Indonesia and I speak Indonesian with a western accent, hahaha … like the male version of Cinta Laura … but I am embarrassed about it and am making sure that my kids grow up speaking proper English and Bahasa Indonesia, which you would think would be so easy but living in a metropolitan city like Jakarta …. it’s not.
So back to Miss Indonesia – the fact is that not all Indonesians know about Indonesia. Okay, not speaking bahasa is a biggie … but i am sure if we did a survey about Indonesian history and Indonesian heritage a lot of people would get a lot of answers wrong. I remember we had a family gathering a few weeks ago where we played an Indonesian version of a trivia game and a lot of people in the room couldn’t (with certainty) pinpoint on the map where Toraja is ….. (okay, now quickly google it) …
I say give her a chance. This has given her a new reason to find out about the deep beauty of our country and hopefully through the process get a greater appreciation of what Indonesia is all about ….
sorry for babbling … just a very interesting scenario/discussion
cheers , jakartaguy
well, she is hot.
the bule look always win nowadays. see sinetron, movie of indonesia, if u half bule, ur stair to heaven is simply easy.
And this is also a must requirement for Miss Indonesia or Puteri Indonesia.
what make me feel so sorry is, truly Indonesian average woman doesn’t look like her. (tall,white, etc). So where is the Potray of REAL Indonesian woman..??
Also, for sure she can speak english fluently, she from mix blood, who apparently talk english for god sake.
You guys should be proud of your Miss Indonesia. In South Africa we have many races as well as mixed. We have had an Indian Miss South Africa and we were extremely proud of her. We have had : Portuguese, White, Black, Indian, and mixed Miss South Africa’s and there was no problem. Indonesians should not discriminate so much!
I think she is a beautiful girl and as a representative of your country, she should be honoured by her fellow citizens.
Indri, many women in Indonesia look like her. And all over the world, no matter what country you are in, the people with the most “international appeal” make it.
It can be because you look a certain way, carry yourself a certain way, speak English with an American accent etc. Same way when you go to the U.S., it can benefit you to stand out in some way.
You often see yourself as you are from the standpoint of where you grew up, but when you go to different parts of the world, you realize that what somewhere can be considered a handicap, can in other parts of the world be considered a plus.
Well, from my point of view, it’s pretty weird. Miss Indonesia is presenting Indonesia itself at the Miss World pageant. If she doesn’t know Indonesian literature and cultures, what would she presented? Well, that’s what I think. It’s okay for anyone to disagree, because, for me it’s just weird o_0