Jember – Hundreds of members of hard-line group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia in Jember, East Java, on Saturday continued to express their anger at the 63rd Miss World pageant, despite the fact the event had officially opened on Sunday after receiving the go-ahead from the central government.

The members took to the streets in central Jember for 30 minutes then marched to the traffic circle next to the local lawmakers' office and to Jember University to voice their protests.

They claimed that the event would degrade the morality of Indonesian youth. They also accused the event of merely being a tool for developed countries to exploit Indonesia for their own benefits.

"The event is no more than a parade of women's bodies and, as such, is strictly prohibited by Islamic teachings," said Abdurrahman, the coordinator of the protest.

The group also rejected the claim by the committee organizing the pageant that the event promoted Indonesia as complete nonsense and blamed the Culture and Tourism Ministry for facilitating it. "Miss World is just a pretext for a more liberal culture," Amir, one of the group members, said.

The protest was joined by hundreds of mothers who brought children to the rally. The protesters distributed pamphlets about their opposition to the Miss World event to passers-by.

Jember Police said that they deployed personnel to escort the rally to prevent any untoward behavior. (hrl)