A surprise awaited for all the Miss Grand International pageant fans as the reigning queen Maria Jose Lora along with the president of the MGIO, Mr. Nawat Itsaragrisi announced the opening of 1st ever Miss Grand Indonesia pageant during a press conference at Sapta Pesona Building, Ministry of Tourism, in Jakarta Indonesia.
Earlier the representative of Indonesia for Miss Grand International pageant was selected from the winners of Puteri Indonesia pageant. Now Indonesia will host its first ever Miss Grand Indonesia pageant in the year 2018. The search for girls from 34 provinces of Indonesia will start from 28th February 2018 in Palembang, South Sumatra.
It was a great honour for the Dharma Gantari Foundation that signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with the Miss Grand International organization as the official license holder of Miss Grand Indonesia.
(Photo Credit - MGI Facebook Official)
"I want to help the new generation to make this event bigger, MGI beauty contest is not just a contest but the most important thing is after the contest. What do you want to do? You should be an inspiration for women in the world," Nawat said on the sidelines of a press conference on Monday.
"By hosting Miss Grand Indonesia, we hope to unearth more young talent in Indonesia," Nawat also added.
Miss Tourism Indonesia 2015 Dikna Faradiba, the national director of Miss Grand Indonesia 2018 also expressed how she hopes of good times in the future, “When I first held the license I could not believe it. From here I can show that the younger generation can bring many good things for the country. Youth is no obstacle.”
Since Miss Grand International pageant’s inception in 2013, Indonesia has proved that it has a great potential with Ariska Putri winning the coveted title in 2016. With her perfect reign, a lot is expected from the queens of Indonesia and now that a separate pageant will be conducted in Indonesia to choose the representative for Miss Grand International 2018, it’s likely that this year Indonesia will once again have a futile run in this international pageant.