By Anthony O. Miller
COMMERCE and Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis reacted with chagrin and muted anger yesterday to Church criticism of the Miss Universe Pageant as a scandalous promotion of female nudity.
Rolandis told the Cyprus Mailhe felt “a lot of surprise” at the Holy Synod’s condemnation of the pageant, especially since Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the relevant tourism and hotel associations were nearly unanimous in backing it.
In denouncing the pageant, the Holy Synod on Tuesday said it was “surprised and sad” that a beauty pageant, “promoting female nudity and scandalising the respected church flock” would mark 2000 years since the birth of Jesus Christ, “instead of any religious celebrations.”
“What is there to be scandalised about,” Rolandis asked, noting “the swimming suits that these girls will wear were also worn by the mothers of our grandmothers.”
Each year in Cyprus, he added, “almost three million Cypriots and foreign tourists enjoy the sun and the sea, wearing swim suits which expose much more than the suits these girls wear will expose. Nobody will be scandalised.”
Pageants like Miss Universe, he noted, “have been taking place for decades… in all countries of the world, with the exception of two to three countries, like Afghanistan, which is ruled by the fundamentalist Taleban.”
“Are they (the Holy Synod) trying to bring fundamentalism into Cyprus? That is what the Taleban are doing. They do not allow women to move in the streets, they have to keep their faces covered,” he told the Cyprus Mail. “Is this the way we are going, or are we going the way of Europe?”
“The Church has a lot to clean up in its own house,” he said. “For instance: the $10 million which is owed by Amiandos Mines, which we have never recovered for 12 years, but for which the Church is responsible. Also… the various feuds between the various bishops, who are fighting fiercely with each other.”
“The Ministry wishes to believe, with all respect to the Church, that the Church will try to clean up things that have to be cleaned up, and not try to upbraid shows like this one, which are internationally accepted, and which occur in 182 out of 185 countries in the world,” Rolandis said.
The island needs to take stock of itself, he said, “if a beauty contest scandalises us, and we are not scandalised by what we see on the screens of our televisions, and by the night life in Cyprus, with the hundreds of bars and discotheques in evening places.”
“This is an international super-show that is connected with Cypriot Aphrodite, and by projection, with the history, tradition and mythology of our country,” he said. “We plan to utilise (this) for the tourist upgrading and projection of Cyprus in the international area.”
Rolandis has said he expects the pageant to benefit Cyprus tourism by being seen on television by some 2.4 billion people — nearly half the world’s population — in over 100 countries.
According to Rolandis, the several million pounds it will cost the government to stage the pageant will be dwarfed by the money made in selling the broadcasting rights.
Additionally, he noted, Cyprus could not afford to buy the international TV advertising for the island that broadcasting the contest around the world will bring, considering that an advert only a few seconds long on prime- time US television costs some $300,000.
