Cambodia: Miss Landmine Pageant Raises Questions

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
By Chhunny Chhean
Global Voices Online

“Everybody has the right to be beautiful!” so starts the manifesto of the Miss Landmine pageant, started by Morten Traavik of Norway. According to the pageant site, the competition is intended to empower landmine victims and challenge traditional notions of beauty. The winner receives a high-tech prosthetic limb. Traavik has already organized a Miss Landmine pageant in Angola and was in the process of launching the event in Cambodia this month when the Cambodian government pulled its support and canceled the pageant.

The Mirror reports that other organizations, including the Cambodian Disabled People's Organization, declined to support the pageant after the Ministry of Social Affairs Veteran and Youth Rehabilitation expressed its displeasure with the pageant, citing the event could lead to misunderstandings about disabled people.

Not surprisingly, there have been varied reactions to the landmine pageant.

Jinja says:

I have mixed feelings about the cattle call of beauty pageants, but do agree with the general idea behind this one: that the participants have a right to feel proud about themselves and their appearance, regardless of circumstance. Without condoning [the pageant], I think the cancellation shows how Khmer society is often leaning towards modern and foreign concepts, only to snap back to what [it] feels [is] more traditional and ’safe’.

CAAI News Media posts a reader's reaction, originally printed in a letter to the Phnom Penh Post editor. The reader questions whether or not the beauty pageant format is empowering:

As for beauty, whose concept of beauty is being promoted? I visited the Web site and found the women from different villages in halter tops and short dresses, which may or may not be the clothing that they would usually wear, but it seemed out of place. Are the organisers, while completely well-meaning, pushing a Western interpretation of “empowerment” where beauty and liberation is equated with being sexy and showing skin? I would have rather liked to see the women wearing something they chose, Western or traditional Khmer, modern or conservative, which made them feel their most beautiful.

At Details are Sketchy, there is news that Traavik has left Cambodia, but that he plans on moving forward with the pageant, via an online vote. Above is a photo of pageant contestant Miss Siem Reap from the pageant website.

Norwegian organizer of 'Miss Landmine' contest in Cambodia arrives home after safety fears

Tuesday, August 11, 2009
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OSLO — The Norwegian organizer of a "Miss Landmine" beauty pageant in Cambodia says safety concerns pushed him to return home after government officials shut down the contest.

Morten Traavik says he returned to Oslo on Monday after Cambodian officials made what he described as threats to his safety.

Cambodian officials cancelled the Miss Landmine contest Aug. 3, saying it "would make a mockery of Cambodia's land mine victims."

The Miss Landmine Web site says the pageant aims to empower land mine survivors and raise awareness about the dangers of land mines. Traavik said he plans to continue the contest on the Web site.

The first Miss Landmine pageant, in Angola in 2008, was criticized by international aid organizations for being demeaning.

Govt blocks meeting with [Miss Landmine] contestants

Miss Battambang, Dos Sopheap. (Photo by: Gorm K Gaare / Miss Landmine 2009)

Thursday, 06 August 2009
James O'Toole
The Phnom Penh Post

"If they refuse to let me meet with Cambodian citizens ... as a private person, that is an even more blatant example of an authoritarian system," Morten Traavik, Miss Landmine organizer

THE organiser of the ill-fated Miss Landmine pageant still wants to show his appreciation to the contestants, despite being told by government officials that a meeting with the women would be "absolutely out of the question".

The Ministry of Social Affairs issued a decree on Sunday banning organiser Morten Traavik from staging the event, which had been intended to celebrate land mine survivors.

Traavik said the ministry has since instructed its provincial offices not to assist any of the women in travelling to Phnom Penh to meet with him, where he was planning to host a dinner and give each of them a gift of US$200.

"If they refuse to let me meet with Cambodian citizens ... as a private person, that is an even more blatant example of an authoritarian system," Traavik said.

Despite these frustrations, Traavik plans to comply with the government decree, although the Miss Landmine Web site, hosted on foreign soil, will remain online.

"I'm a Norwegian citizen.... But for my Cambodian friends and partners, I have to put their well-being in front of everything else," he said.

On Wednesday, the Cambodian Disabled People's Organisation (CDPO) issued a statement in support of the government ban. CDPO officials had previously collaborated with Traavik on the pageant.

"We would like to express our gratitude for the valuable recommendations of ... [Minister of Social Affairs] Ith Sam Heang, who offered his timely advice to the CDPO," the statement read.

CDPO's executive director, Ngin Saorath, said that the organisation works closely with the ministry on a variety of projects and must maintain good relations. "What the government decides, we have to respect," he said.

Traavik was unsurprised by the CDPO's reversal, saying that their statement was written "in full understanding" with him.

Ngin Saorath, however, downplayed the significance of the controversy. "It doesn't mean this is the end of the rights of people with disabilities," he said.