The pageant saga darkens

 

Choi claimed that she was only 15, not 18 as purported then and that he learnt of her true age in early May and it was too late to find a replacement.

“Her real birth-date was October 13, 1998,” said Choi.

Despite the pageant’s minimum age limit of 18 as stipulated on the pageant’s official website, it has emerged that Choi once insisted that May Myat Noe was old enough for the pageant and that the age limit was “optional”. 

 Both have been locked in a bitter verbal wrangle over a range of issues ever since the Myanmar beauty queen won the title.

May Myat Noe has been accused of causing embarrassments to the organisers. According to Choi, she spent up to US$10,000 on breast enlargement and borrowed a sum from the organisers to buy a bra.

“After the surgery, her breast became bigger. She said she needed to buy a new bra as her breast was bigger,” said Choi, adding: “She also claimed to have no food to eat and borrowed US$18 from a nurse,” explained Choi. 

Choi dismissed the accusations by May Myat Noe of any controversial issues, saying she went for a boob job on her own following a meeting with a team from the Korea Observer. 

Choi also dismissed the newspaper reports of the much exaggerated value of the crown as pure speculation. Its actual price was much lower that most speculations. “The crown was designed by a designer and students for six weeks. I never said it was worth US$100,000,” he said.

Choi’s heavy-handed approach has caused quite a stir in Myanmar. 

“What I want to say is whether May Myat Noe did a mistake, the Korean organisation should stop attacking her with improper accusations without any strong evidence. They are taking it too far. I don’t care if she was wrong. I object to any criticism of the Myanmar ladies by making her an example. I want Ms. May to take a legal action if she wants. I, as a Myanmar citizen, demand a proper apology from the Korean organisation for insulting May Myat Noe and Myanmar,” Thit Thit Myint Saing told Eleven Media.

May Myat Noe’s mother also said: “We’ll explain everything at a press conference. All the accusations against me and my daughter will be explained. We will not tolerate any attempts to insult the dignity of both me and my daughter. Everything will be clarified.”

Since its inception in 2010, the Miss Asia Pacific World Organisation has come in for a lot of criticism.

Miss Asia Pacific World 2011 Jung Eun A of South Korea had to give up her title one day after being crown and was immediately replaced by Florima Treiber of France. Seven months later, Florima was stripped of the title and replaced once again by Diana Starkova of Ukraine.

Jung Eun A pointed out that the competition was plagued with irregularities. 

According to a BBC report in 2011, Amy Willerton, a British model who won the title of Miss Universe Great Britain 2013, competed in the Miss Asia Pacific World pageant that year. Fearing for her own safety, she decided to bow out of the pageant midway in South Korea only to allege later that some contestants were sexually harassed and bribed and left hungry without enough food.

"They put us in hotel rooms with no beds.They often didn't feed us. Then it moved onto bribery, sexual harassment. Girls were offered places in the competition in exchange for sex, in exchange for money.It was completely corrupt," said Willerton.

After being sexually harassed, several contestants, herself included,filed a complaint with South Korean police.

"When the police arrived, they called in one of the chairmen of the pageant who actually got his wallet out straight away and we were all pushed back by the organisers so we couldn't speak. Our translator would not translate for us so we were completely helpless," she told BBC.

According to Asia One, Singapore’s popular online news portal, a new contest to find a successor to the Miss Asia Pacific World 2014 pageant is scheduled for November 8, a spokesperson for the organisation said in a statement. The organisers declared that "the title of Miss Asia Pacific World 2014 will not go to the first runner-up".