License For Miss Universe To Change HANDs, YPI Continues The Selection Of Puteri Indonesia

The selection of Puteri Indonesia (Photo: Doc. YPI)

JAKARTA - The Puteri Indonesia Foundation (YPI) confirmed that Miss Universe Indonesia's license had changed hands. The move had surprised YPI because so far the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) has not issued an official statement to the Puteri Indonesia Foundation, which has been working with Miss Universe for 30 years.

The Head of Communications for the Puteri Indonesia Foundation, Mega Angkasa said he was surprised by the statement from one of the organizations that already had a Miss Universe Indonesia license at a press conference that took place on Wednesday, March 8, 2023 in Jakarta.

The Puteri Indonesia Foundation was surprised because at that time we were still waiting for official news from the MUO Director for Global Franchise, Carlos Capetillo regarding the continuation of the license like the previous year.

Mega menceritakan bahwa pada tanggal 25 Januari 2023 YPI mendapat informasi dari Miss Universe Organization bahwa akan dilakukan bid perpanjangan lisensi tahun 2023 untuk Indonesia. Kami hanya diberi waktu 3 hari kerja (working day). Kemudian YPI mengajukan bida tersebut pada tanggal 31 Januari 2023 waktu Indonesia sesuai dengan jadwal yang dimintakan oleh MUO dengan mengajukan penawaran yang naik 1000% (10 kali) dibanding nilai yang YPI bayar tahun sebelumnya, ditambah dengan beberapa penawaran kerjasama dengan MUO termasuk menjadikan Miss Universe sebagai brand ambassador, sponsor makeup dan merchandise Miss Universe di Indonesia.

Furthermore, MUO announced that it would announce the license holder on February 7, 2023. However, until February 8, 2023, there has been no announcement update received by YPI.

When YPI was still waiting for news from MUO regarding the extension of the license, on the same day, Wednesday, February 8, 2023, at 16.30 p.m. we received information regarding the Press Conference on ownership of the Miss Universe Indonesia License, one of the organizations in Indonesia claimed to be the new owner of the Miss Universe Indonesia license, and 20 minutes after the press conference started, at 16.50 p.m. to be exact, YPI received an answer sent via e-mail that the YPI license was not extended, whose letter was issued by JKN Global, and not from the Miss Universe Organization, or Carlos Capetillo.

With this happening, YPI feels disappointed and thinks there is no transparency in the bidding process for the license ownership of Miss Universe Indonesia, and we feel there is injustice because YPI is only given 3 working days while the National Director of other countries gets a grace period of 510 days. In addition, we were not given a bidding format properly while other countries received a detailed bidding format.

Because there is no transparency in the bidding process, we suspect that there are other dominant factors that determine the transfer of Miss Universe Indonesia's license, based on the facts that occurred in the press conference that the organization had obtained a Miss Universe Indonesia license 2023 several months earlier.

Mega added, despite the transfer of Miss Universe's license, Puteri Indonesia's activities and programs will continue, including holding the 2023 Puteri Indonesia Election which will take place in May. Puteri Indonesia will remain the Princess of Indonesia that has been attached to the hearts of the people and is the pride of the Indonesian nation. Indonesian people certainly know Puteri Indonesia better than Miss Universe.

Indonesian soldiers have become a reflection and role model for Indonesian women, young women who are intelligent, talented and have a personality who has brought good smell and achievements both at the national and international levels.

We feel that MUO's vision and mission, which has been in line with YPI's vision and mission, seems no longer the same. Even the behavior that YPI is trying to teach students in terms of business relationships where each party is involved in respecting each other seems no longer respected or put forward," said Mega.