DHAKA: Indonesia said on Saturday that the final of Miss World later this month would take place on the Hindu-majority holiday island of Bali instead of near the capital, after days of Muslim hardline protests.

Thousands took to the streets this week to denounce the decision to hold the beauty pageant in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, with protesters burning the organisers in effigy and branding them ‘infidels’.

The contest opens in Bali on Sunday and later rounds were due to take place in and around Jakarta, with the winner originally set to be crowned at a venue outside the capital on September 28.

But the government said on Saturday they had decided all events would now be held on Bali, where hardline influence is almost non-existent and which is used to hordes of foreign tourists sunbathing in skimpy swimwear, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1812 HRS, SEPT 07, 2013
RoR/RIS