Muslim anger threatens to take shine off Miss World All smiles: Miss World contestants perform during the Miss World 2013 Indonesia opening show in Nusa Dua. Since its inception in 1951, the Miss World pageant has brought together female beauty, flesh and outrage in equal measure. This year the outrage comes from Muslim hardliners in Indonesia, but in 1952 it was Pope Pius XII and assorted moralists in Britain who stopped the winner being crowned in a bikini, even though the pageant had begun as a celebration of the skimpy garment the previous year. In 1970, London feminists threw flour bombs at the finalists. In 1996, the Hindus of Bangalore, India, forced the show's swimsuit portion to be relocated. Muslim protesters from Hizb ut Tahrir Indonesia at a rally against the beauty pageant. But 2013 belongs to the Muslim tut-tutters. This year's pageant was to have been held in West Java and Bali, but months of protests and dark threats from Indonesia's sometimes violent Islamic fringe have seen changes. First the bikini show was scrapped - contestants will wear one-piece costumes and a sarong. Then most of the events were moved from Java to relatively tolerant Bali for security reasons. The grand finale, though, was still to have been held in Sentul, on the outskirts of Jakarta. On Saturday, Indonesia's vice-president Boediono ordered it be moved to Bali. Now organisers fear logistical challenges might stop the show. The international beauties, they say, will clash with the world's bureaucrats gathering in Bali for APEC in the lead-up to the leaders meeting featuring President Obama and incoming Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Nana Putra, the project director for programming and production at pageant organiser MNC told The New York Times that it was probably not possible to relocate now. "The pageant has different programs, and that requires booking venues, rooms, equipment far in advance," Nana said. It's just difficult for us to change all these things that we were preparing for a long time. We cannot just change it overnight. Objections to the contest began in Indonesia almost as soon as it was announced, but hit the streets last week when thousands of protesters picketed the offices of the event organiser in Jakarta. Miss World is an immoral event. If it goes ahead, we will all be punished by God," one protester shouted to the crowd in the regional city Bandung. Leading the protesters are hardline groups Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and the Islamic Defenders Front, which often smashes up bars and brothels and occasionally kills people. Their campaign has also won the support of the Indonesian Ulema Council, the organisation of clerics which has a formal advisory role with the government. They say exposing women's skin violates Muslim teaching. They have been mollified neither by the move to Bali - where female skin is visible day and night - nor by the introduction of sarongs. It was protests such as these which forced Lady Gaga to cancel her tour of Indonesia last year. The Indonesian government has been criticised by civil society organisations for too often bowing to such demands, thereby emboldening the radical groups.