Miss Indonesia 2025 contestant Merince Kogoya was disqualified after a two-year-old video showing her expressing her Christian faith by supporting Israel resurfaced on Instagram, she revealed on Monday.
The May 2023 video showed Kogoya participating in a pro-Israel rally, waving the flag of the Jewish state and dancing. The caption, translated online, read: “Diligent for Zion, loyal to Jerusalem, standing for Israel.”
Kogoya, an indigenous Papuan who represented Indonesia’s Highland Papua province, was removed from the pageant during the quarantine phase after the video footage went viral on social media last week.
The Miss Indonesia Organisation did not comment on the controversy and quietly removed her from the pageant, replacing her with Karmen Anastasya, the province’s runner-up, The Jakarta Globe reported.
In a statement posted to her Instagram story on Monday, Miss Highland Papua defended herself, saying the video, recorded before the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, was not political but rather expressed her faith.
“I was simply practicing my faith as a follower of Christ by praying and offering blessings, but an old video from my reels went viral with many false interpretations about my beliefs,” wrote Kogoya.
However, as of Wednesday, Kogoya’s Instagram profile still included the phrase “I stand with Israel,” as well as an emoji of the Jewish state’s flag.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic country with a population of some 220 million Muslims, does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.
In April 2024, Ynet reported that Israel was set to normalize relations with Indonesia after months of talks between Jerusalem and Jakarta.
In exchange for establishing diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, Israel would reportedly drop objections to Jakarta becoming a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Although the two countries do not share formal diplomatic relations, cooperation exists in trade, technology and tourism. Indonesia was one of the Muslim-majority countries that Jerusalem was working to add to the Abraham Accords in the months before Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
In late May, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto claimed he could recognize Israel if it would allow a Palestinian state to be established.
“Indonesia sees that two-state solution and the freedom of Palestine is the only way to achieve the true peace,” Subianto told reporters, adding: “Indonesia has stated that once Israel recognizes Palestine, Indonesia is ready to recognize Israel and open the diplomatic relationship.”
