JAKARTA: A Miss Indonesia contestant has been removed from the pageant after a video showing her waving the Israeli flag went viral, sparking backlash in a country that has long stood in solidarity with Palestine.
Merince Kogoya, who was set to represent the province of Highland Papua at the Miss Indonesia finals on July 9, was dropped from the competition last week after the video from May 2023 gained traction on social media.
The clip, which shows Kogoya dancing with the Israeli flag, sparked outrage among Indonesians and prompted pageant organizers to quietly remove Kogoya from the competition. She was replaced with Karmen Anastasya, a runner-up from the same province.
On Monday, Kogoya posted on Instagram — where her bio reads “I stand with Israel” — that she was replaced due to “public comments,” referring to the backlash she faced.
“My two-year-old video reel was widely shared with various misinterpretations about my beliefs,” she wrote.
“I am also conveying my apology to the Highland Papua family, I have tried to give my best but the fact is that @missindonesia’s decision was taken based on comments that were not in line with my beliefs.”
Kogoya did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Arab News.
Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, has long been a staunch supporter of Palestine, as its people and government see Palestinian statehood as mandated by their own constitution, which calls for the abolition of colonialism.
The Southeast Asian nation has no diplomatic relations with Israel, and the Indonesian government has repeatedly called for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and for a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders.
Hundreds and thousands of Indonesians across the country have rallied in solidarity with Palestine since the beginning of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza in October 2023, while they also take part in mass boycotts of products and companies linked to Israel.
To date, Israel has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians and wounded over 133,000 others. The true death toll is feared to be much higher, with research published in The Lancet medical journal in January estimated an underreporting of deaths by 41 percent.
The study also takes into account the possibility of a higher death toll, as it does not include deaths caused by starvation, injury and lack of access to healthcare, caused by Israeli forces’ destruction of most of Gaza's infrastructure and the blocking of medical and food aid.
