Nadine Chandrawinata

Jul 18th, 2006, in News, by

The Miss Universe contestant from Indonesia, Nadine Chandrawinata, has strutted about in a bikini, to the displeasure of some.

Nadine Chandra Winata, the reigning Miss Indonesia, who was born in Germany but has some Indonesian parentage, appeared in a bikini at a Miss Universe 2006 photo shoot for their annual calendar, despite the fact that she could have chosen to wear a one-piece swimsuit.

Nadine Chandrawinata
Nadine Chandrawinata.

Latifah Iskandar, a parliamentarian from the PAN party was one who let it be known that Indonesian girls should not engage in such activity:

I’m sad that there are still Indonesians like that, at this time wer’e concerned about the issue of pornography. It’s very inappropriate.

The Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI, also complained, and went even further, saying that Indonesia should not participate in the contest at all.

The MUI rejects (Miss Universe) primarily because it emphasises beauty and the body. This can be seen in the appearance of the contestants. Secondly, the MUI rejects the clothes they wear.

said one Amidhan of the MUI in Jakarta and he added that a new fatwa was not in the offing because a previous one condemning public indecency and pornography was already sufficient. He advised that a new contest should be set up:

Why not have a contest that doesn’t emphasise beauty but instead ability, intelligence, and spirit as human beings who are moral and religiously observant?

Nadine however was not alone in her choice of the two-piece outfit. Miss Malaysia, Melissa Ann Tan, a girl of Chinese descent, also sported one. Of the 86 finalists who appeared in the swimsuit session only three chose to cover their belly buttons – Misses Serbia, Turks & Caicos and Kazakstan.

Update July 21st

The womens’ wing of the Islamic Defenders Front, the Mujahidah FPI, have reported Nadine Chandrawinata to the police for indecency. FPI lawyer Adnan Assegaf, who accompanied Mujahidah Secretary Noni Supriyanti Budiani, gave the following explanation:

We have reported Nadine Chandrawinata as she has harassed Indonesian women by appearing in vulgar poses at the Miss Universe 2006 contest on behalf of Indonesia.

He added that Nadine’s participation in the event, which is being held in another country, the United States, was against Indonesian culture which, he claims, does not permit women to wear bikinis in public.

Besides Nadine, the FPI, who have been on a recent reporting-to-the-police-spree (see Krisdayanti & Playboy, Playboy the Third, Joanna Alexandra & Fla Priscilla, Andara Early), also reported some people connected with the Miss Indonesia contest and thought to be active supporters of Nadine, namely Mooryati Sudibyo, Wardiman Djojonegoro , Mega Angkasa , Kusuma Dewi and Artika Sari Devi, who the FPI says:

…have supported and financed the departure of Nadine. So they can be charged with engaging and participating in activities forbidden by the law.

The law in question is edict number 02/U/1984 which apparently forbids the holding of beauty contests where they conflict with the moral and religious standards of the people.

Noni Supryanti Budiani explained further:

We didn’t only report Nadine, it’s not fair if we just report her. Don’t allow Nadine to be used anymore.

About 100 Mujahidah loudly demonstrated outside the Jakarta police station where the complaint was filed.

Continued

Nadine says, to Antara, that she is unconcerned about the actions of the FPI back home in Indonesia.

It’s their right if they want to report me to the police. But one thing is for sure – my participation in the Miss Universe contest is to make Indonesia known in the international arena.

She says she is not at all depressed about the matter.

I don’t feel down at all after hearing about it. It just makes me want to advance to the next round even more.

Alas, however, Nadine did not make the cut for the next round of twenty contestants, the news of which caused the dismay and almost visible pain of many in Indonesia, a country where the Miss Universe competition is taken rather seriously indeed and where the performance of the nation’s representative is viewed as a not insignificant matter of national pride.

(Continued at http://www.indonesiamatters.com/597/nadine-chandra/)


134 Comments on “Nadine Chandrawinata”

  1. Rahma says:

    hehe.. 🙂 giggle… no smart act heh… :p
    thanks CRAJ, oh ya I forgot one thing…
    People who said miss universe pageant is such pointless and brainless ???
    Uhhm, I think you guyz just too serious in this life..
    c’mon people .. life is not just about dirty politics, greedy people who’s been starving of power,….corruptions, war etc…
    stop talking about how smart are you in making or promising this country better..
    take a seat,
    for a moment or about 2 hours you will be watching dozens gorgeous girls from over the world…they will show their dance , skills, etc (and please dont use your dirty mind…this is the way you respect us)
    They’d be introducing themselve individually in their own accent…
    dont you think thats great…??
    as Nadine meets friends from over the world…. different look, different accent, different race, different anything..and maybe you’ll be grateful to god… what a beautiful your creation…
    making friends from over the world… and realize the difference is beautiful, Uhhmm, at least ..its not boring than seeing people who talk theory this this and this … (no sense of humour)
    watching dozens pretty girl with barbie look ,maybe will refresh your brain…
    Good luck Nadine !!!!

  2. put3 says:

    love u nadine…always will…just do what u have to do and dont listen to this weird ass people..u know it your self that u are better than others…and be proud of yourself ok..we all love u and so proud of u, we know and believe that nothing u will do but make Indonesia name better in a world point of view..we love u and no matter what we always love u and still proud of u……

  3. sammy says:

    i realy love what have you done to show the world about Indonesian beuty, keep strugle tobe miss world 2006, and don’t hear what the f..k mouth!!!!!!!!

  4. Hassan says:

    Agree or disagree, we are entitled to our own oppinions right? i stand firm on my oppinion that this pageant thingy is pointless. why would women want to be sized and measures like grade A or B or C potatoes is completely beyond me. They placed themselves as OBJECTS, rather than SUBJECTS. I don’t know dude, the idea of women being placed in the eyes of millions of lusty men sounds cheap and degrading to me.

    *Satir: maybe you’re right in that career perspective you mentioned, but if her career disturbs other people because it’s againts the values those people hold (be it religious, eastern cultural values, decency and moral values) don’t you think she oughta re-considered her position? she had her rights, but other people had theirs.

    *eddy: you don’t know me, so don’t you dare for one moment judge me whether I’m an embarassment for this country or not. I’m nothing like the people you mentioned. If I had an opportunity to meet those corrupters and manipulators i wont kiss their asses, I’ll kick their sorry asses for causing all this to our country. hey lighten up on the negative thinking there bud.

    *other people here: forget about the FPI or the religious sentiments when judging this matter. those who opposes the miss universe pageant did not necessarily based their objections based on Islamic or religious values. as i mentioned it might also be because of eastern cultural values and decency and moral values within them.

    Lastly for those who supports nadine: YOU DON’T ACTUALLY THINK THEY WOULD CHOOSE SOMEONE WHO DIDN’T SPEAK ENGLISH FLUENTLY AS THE MISS UNIVERSE, DO YOU? as the future miss universe 2006 tours the world, she would speak Indonesian and german? gimme a break…

  5. eddy says:

    Hassan,

    It’s good to know that you’re not the kind of man I thought you were before. But still, if you really believe that everybody is entitled to express their own opinion, why have you complaint about Nadine in the first place ?

    It’s true that I don’t know you just like you don’t know about Nadine. If you can judge her, why don’t you let other people judge you ?

    Why is it always about someone’s wrong and you’re right ?

    Anyway, you can speak whatever you want to speak. I have nothing against you personally. So, let’s just see what’s the end gonna be….

  6. Cokorda Raka Angga Jananuraga says:

    Ah ya,

    Rahma…. I think you got the point. Now I feel a litttle bad for having criticized Nadine for her english. Sorry.

    True, ability to speak english doesn’t translate directly to the level of intelligence of a person. Then I thought, to make things more interesting, why don’t they (miss universe organizer) require the contestants to be able to speak in the language of the host country? 🙂 Yea, that would be interesting and fair :). If it’s in Swahili, speak swahili, in tahiti speak … what… spanish? french?, etc. Heh… heh….

    But then I thought…, forget it. It’s a BEAUTY pageant. The whole thing about brain and behavior is bullsh*t. Even if you listen to the contestants who speak perfect english, you’ll typically get this kind of answer: “If I become miss universe, there will be no more street children….”… I’d say: “yeah, right. heard that before”.

    If you become miss universe, you’ll become rich by the photo-session / intervies / television show / movie contracts. That’s what you’ll do.

  7. It puzzled me that she didn’t answer her interview in German if she’s more fluent in that lingo. I’d rather she uses an interpreter so she can come across much better. Lot’s of other candidates are using interpreter, why not Nadine? To be fair, at least she was confident enough to try answering her interview in English. If you go to Spain, Germany or France, most of the time they will answer your questions in their own language eventhough they said they can speak English (and no, they don’t have low IQ it is just because they are not confidence enough speaking English)

    Have you noticed that lots of small countries (Aruba, Northern Mariana, Trinidad, etc) that live of tourism industry always send a candidate to beauty pageants? Maybe we can learn from them, after all we need to attract tourists to Indonesia after series of bad publicities such as tsunamis, bird flu, bombings, earthquakes.

    Like Rahma, I have trouble each time someone uses ‘Indonesian value’ or ‘ethic’ or ‘moral’ in his reasoning each time the subject of women came up. Which one?? The one that is patriachal where women are treated as second class citizen? The one that allow discrimination against women in some of its laws? The one that practically don’t do anything to protect their (female) overseas workers from their abusive employees?

  8. me says:

    OMG! Indonesia is soo old fashioned! how come people still complain about indo girls in a bikini? this is not the 18th century anymore!! gosh!! seriously.. people in indo should be more open minded. MISS universe contest aint just about the looks and the body, it’s about talent and knowledge as well!! nadine good luck, and pls work on your english! >.

  9. nuNu. says:

    oh wow. too bad she didn’t even get the top 20. even after she show her pretty belly.

    poor nadine. go home and star another sexy chocolate commercial. you’re better at it.

  10. Rockstar says:

    “Lastly for those who supports nadine: YOU DON’T ACTUALLY THINK THEY WOULD CHOOSE SOMEONE WHO DIDN’T SPEAK ENGLISH FLUENTLY AS THE MISS UNIVERSE, DO YOU? as the future miss universe 2006 tours the world, she would speak Indonesian and german? gimme a break”

    hehehe chill out 🙂 everybody is entitled to his/her own opinion ..

    beside it’s a beauty pageant not a spelling be contest 🙂 hehe

  11. Matt says:

    I’m from the U.S., I read this whole message board and am completely culture shocked. I read an article about the FPI reporting to the police and I wanted to get a perspective by other Indonesians on how they felt about this. I goto school at Ohio State, and I walk to class and see girls dressed in bikinis laying out in there lawns, a lot of them are smart, just getting some sun. There are even certain concerts that some people actually goto in the nude (not I) but they do exist. I do not feel that the people there are very intelligent, but it is not disgracing our country for existing. Haha, I still can’t believe this thread even exists! I mean come on, I understand cultural beliefs, but can we really be free not being able to wear certain clothes? Freedom = being able to express yourself without fear. A lot of people here feel that they are expressing themselves by the clothes they wear.
    1 other thing, the war in the Middle East is getting out of control and is not supported by the general public, and I really hope that our next president will do an ENORMOUS job with the reconstruction of all Muslim countries affected by the war and Tsunamis. Bush should have NOT allowed Israel bomb public areas in Lebanon and it makes me SICK reading about it.

  12. tamm says:

    defenetely unfair for any women in Indonesia who done nothing wrong only because a piece of bikiny & what about those people in the beach.
    What about the man who had a dirty brain with a woman with normal close & suddenly hurt the woman by (you know what I mean) so, there are many other nasty thing happen in this world specially Indonesian rather than a female wearing a swinsuit. I have to say also what about those who’d died untill yr 2000 in MALUKU & also in POSO till 2004 (WHO’S THE KILLER?) Why worry about one person who wore a swimsuit for a wolrd competition & not try to sell her body to you???

    Me & other people still want to ask who is the killer of those innocent people in Maluku & Poso? Any idea? More than 8000 people died, ok!

    A few earth quake happened in manado after the jogja earth quake about 6.8 & 7.2 scale & more.. (anyone knows if there anyone died?)

    Also why don�t you people realise that something going on in Indonesia? The tsunami, earth quake, stop judge & hurt your own people.
    �Love & peace overcome war & sin� that�s what god wants & he also wants the people who believe on him not to hurt each other specially we�re neighbours.

    Jesus said �love is first & the firt� with love there will be no sins.

    People need food everywhere, specially those who left behind.

    I believe in god & accordding to the bible said that the people who believe in him will be separated from those who don�t belive on him. If you�re Christian you will find this one chapter about �the 1000 years of happiness� but beofre that there will be a somekind of cleanup means (like I said those who don�t believe in him will be separated from those who believe in him doesn�t matter if you�re poor or rich.

  13. Zoe says:

    If Indonesia cares so much about girls wearing bikinis, why do magazines, such as POPULAR, have been around for so long?

  14. bert says:

    I think, the nicest thing written about Nadine, is Samuel Mulia’s in Kompas last Sunday, titled “Mbak Nadine…. I Lap You”.
    http://www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0607/23/urban/2823541.htm

  15. unnamed says:

    Go Nadine!! The MUI Comments are BULLSHIT..In Indonesian, these comments called “MUNAFIK”…..

    Why MUI always act as a holy person? Just give comments to other people,offensive comments,while those people try to make Indonesia proud, and it’s only because their STUPID ideology?

  16. Spikeplot says:

    2003, Amelia Vega spoke Spanish when she was crowned as Miss Universe.

  17. muhaha says:

    go nadine! i apeopleaude her bravery to do what she believes in despite of the bigoted comments from political parties. aren’t they supposed to be lying to the public somewhere? oh wait.. hahah, they are.

    get with the world. one beauty pageant ain’t going to remove the kebaya from traditional wear. she looks graceful in her evening wear.

    regarding her english, or rather what I would prefer to refer to as “accent mignon””¦ get a grip. obviously many are not familiar with the exotique factor. les francais have their accents, why can’t Indonesia? think out side the square you live in, dear bigots. i love Indonesia, but politics and beauty pageant need to stay separate as should politic and religion.

  18. gio f smtpng says:

    only one comment….
    it’s all depend on our way of thinking with our background of knowledge, and our faith, and back to your heart the deepest feeling inside.. it’s good or not….

  19. CK says:

    Retards,
    its the case of sour grapes!

    What do you expect?That you can intimidate the whole world with violence and burqa’s?

    Ha ha ha..what a looser bunch!

  20. J Steele says:

    Have any of the protagonists on this page sat down to seriously think about why those who are disagreeing with them is doing it so strongly? If your opinion (or their’s) could be deemed so reasonable, accurate and definitive, there would be no grounds upon which to disagree? So, other than through the influence of every person you have ever met throughout your life, from where do your strongly held beliefs come? Would your mind have conjured up a God or any of your other beliefs without that influence? Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Budhist, American, Indonesian or whatever – if you’d been born within your “opponents’s” group of people or society – do you really believe that you would have ended-up holding the same views that you’re so strongly defending above? SERIOUSLY: From where would your religious, moral, national or any other “beliefs” have come if you’d not been told about them by your circle of friends and acquaintances? Please be honest with yourself and you will then understand that there is no argument to be won here; there is no correct view. Why the need to impose your “beliefs” on others when they are merely built around our socially conditioned perceptions (made up from all the circumstances of your life to date)?

  21. pu2 says:

    ha ha go for ndine, be caurage your one beutiful women who can change Indonesian public opinion , because it’s our fredome to chose what we want , not they opinion what suppose we’re.

  22. guitar.freaks.girl says:

    o__0 maybe nadine should just go out naked lmao dat will piss them off
    who gives a fuk bout the stupid people they’re just jealous curz they probably want to be in the miss universe thing but dont gots the looks and sexc body lol plus two piece is way beta den one piece

  23. Desy says:

    I think Indonesian people should be thankful to her, because she brings Indonesia to a better name.

    As we all know, Indonesia is very famous of by it highest rate of corruptions in all level as well as famous of the terror acts from and to its own people (remember what happened in Bali?). The FPI, MUI and other narrow minded Indonesian organizations MUST back off and stop harrassing her. Just because lots of Indonesians are Muslims, it doesn’t mean that all other Indonesians who are not Muslim have to follow Muslim rules.

    I’m absolutely not against Muslim people but against anybody of any religions or any nations or any type op people who thinks they are better than others!!!

    If she chose to be a contestant of miss universe, it’S her own choice. Let her be! It’s nobody else’s business!

    And lots of those narrow minded people who are against here are having 2 faces.

    All people who think that she done sins because she joins Miss universe should be ashamed. Why don’t they point fingers to themselves!!!

    Wearing bikini is not pornography, it’s just a normal thing to do. For those who doesn’t like to see such beauty are just bunch of envy people!

    If they don’t like to see women in Bikini, why do they watch the Miss Universe show anyway??? Who asked them to do so? Don’t like to see it? Then change the chanel!!!
    Don’t pretend to be holy outside but inside of your hearts and minds are rotten!!!

    And for those who are horny just to see such things need to be brainwashed to open their minds out of a box!!!

    So BACK OFF YOU NARROW MINDED PEOPLE AND BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF FOR FINGER POINTING AT HER!!!
    BE VERY VERY ASHAME!!! SHAME ON YOU!!!

  24. osit says:

    I Love You Nadine

  25. Satir Kepelintir says:

    @J Steele:
    There’s always a need of opposing view points. It’s the beauty of a discussion. I realize that the world would be a boring place if everyone agrees on everything. I think some people here just wanted their perspective to be heard and known by the other group instead of imposing what they think is right and forcing it to the other group. I am perfectly okay if they insist on their opinions unless there exists a counter-argument that’s based on facts, vice versa.

    Quoting Hasan: YOU DON’T ACTUALLY THINK THEY WOULD CHOOSE SOMEONE WHO DIDN’T SPEAK ENGLISH FLUENTLY AS THE MISS UNIVERSE, DO YOU?
    Answer to that: If you haven’t noticed, they did just that this year! Zuleyka Rivera (MU 2006) doesn’t speak English fluently and she uses interpreter most of the time. The MUO also did the same thing in 2003 with Amelia Vega, in 2002 with Oxana Fedorova and I could go on and on since there are so many Miss Universe who can’t speak English. They normally go through the necessary training *after* being crowned so they can speak sufficient English during their tour.

    You probably want to argue that this happen after Donald Trump acquire the rights of the MU pageant and hence there is less emphasize on the brain (it’s relative but I would agree on that point). However, there are even a longer list of MUs who can’t speak English in that period.

    English is not the main requirement but it would help boost the chance to win considering some things may be lost in translation if the interpreters botch their jobs. If you equal the ability to speak English fluently with intelligence, that would deem all Indonesians who can’t speak English as stupid.

    Hasan, regarding her career disturbing other people because it’s againts the values those people hold…have you considered the fact that she was photographed in the United States–not in the premise of our country– where it was perfectly okay to do that and it wasn’t against her personal belief & her religion? What if I tell you that many Arab princesses, when they are travelling in the United States, they take off their burqa so it does not make the people around her uncomfortable?

    Nadine never told anyone to look at her photograph. She probably didn’t realize that the photograph took her picture individually. I can imagine since it’s a swimsuit calendar she probably thought the Indonesians who are against swimsuit would not buy the calendar. As far as I know, her photograph is not found easily in the internet. You need to search it under the Miss Universe section in Yahoo! News. So if you are against looking the pictures of women in swimsuits/bikinis, why would you go through all the trouble and put yourself in the position to look?

    I’m not sure which newspaper or tabloid printed that picture and let all the Indonesians see it, but I think the one that has to be blame is the media who were irresponsible for broadcasting a picture that would anger and hurt the Muslim community.

    I’m wondering if maybe you think that Nadine, as an Indonesian and a celebrity, does not have the right to do anything inappropriate according to the Islamic teaching even when she is in a place where that behavior is perfectly acceptable and is not against her belief? Is this the responsibility acquired by anyone who wears the Indonesian badge because it does not reflect the so-called Indonesian identity?
    Just because Islam is the dominant religion, does that mean Indonesian identity = Islam? Even among the Muslim people, how many are personally against Miss Indonesia wearing swimsuit?

  26. s says:

    Many of you who are belittling Nadine for her poor English don’t have good English. And speaking English does NOT make you more or less intelligent. Speaking English does not mean you have a high IQ. There are plenty of ignorant English speaking people here in the states.

    Not to mention that I work with some very intelligent people who have trouble with English.

    And Nadine should have a personal choice to advance her public status in another country where she did nothing illegal. Her birth country has no right to dictate what she does outside of it’s boundaries. After all, that is why many people leave the countries they are born it.

  27. Vincent says:

    Hello everybody!

    I’m following up on some of the comments about Nadine as our miss universe. There are some points and reasons where Nadine had not been qualified as top twenty of miss universe. First, language barrier, to be honest I agree that Nadine should have used intrepreter in order to translate her language into a perfect meaningful english, but I’m very pleased that at least she has encouraged herself to speak english. May next tyear Indonesia prepare a better, well-trained candidate.

    Second, self-esteem and education, Nadine seems to be a typical Indonesian shy girl. I see her as a nice person to talk to, but the objective of miss universe is not about beutiful face or sexy body, but it’s more about personality with high self-esteem, education, social type person, and wide vision about the world. Nadine should have prepared herself better. I blame on the Indonesian officials, where they should have known this problems long before the contest.

    Third, it’s about the controversy about bikini and religion. It’s time for us, Indonesian to look into different perspective. There is no NUDITY in here! What’s the relationship between a religion with bikini? Please do look at Nadine as a beautiful girl, wearing a nice swimsuit. She doesn’t expose her body as a sex explotation or pin-up girl, but rarther as showing the beauty of human anatomy, which we should be proud that Indonesian people has a good physical quality compare to other countries. We’re often being bound by religion, politic, culture where these aspects should not dictate our lives, but on the other hand, we as human being should be in command. I don’t care if they’re Christian, Muslims, Buddist etc. We, Indonesian should be rational, put aside your bible and qur’an, think as human, then start to use what’s good in your religion. Don’t yell the Name of GOD not because you think you know HIM, but because you love HIM!

    Anyway, I hope my comments will give a good idea to some of you why Nadineas perfect candidate has failed, rarther than blaming her on what she’s wearing. Grow up Indonesia!!!….we’re way behind other countries.

  28. Rahma says:

    it’s funny how you people dissin’ each other. bunch of monkeys fighting over a banana, lol

    stop preaching about religion.. make me YAWN….
    and YOU guys dont even put links to get to know you’re real…. (hope u know what I mean..you’re REAL…)
    PPfffhhhh,…. I feel like living in 15th century…..
    Lost in dark ages….

  29. Tia says:

    I love you Nadine…..FPI SUCK !!!!!!!!!!!!… BULL SHIT!!!!!!

  30. FPI My Ass says:

    why it has to be FPI’s WOMEN to report Nadine?
    where’s their MAN?
    they’re enjoying it right?
    they like to see beautiful women in the pageant, nice ass, boobs, etc
    they will go to hell after all
    why should we care

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