IS MISS SINGAPORE WORLD 2015 REPRESENTING SINGAPOREANS OR MYANMAR?

I am very curious at the decision of the judges of Miss Singapore World 2015. Undoubtedly, this year's awarding of the title to Miss Charity Maru, a self-professed Kachin native from Myanmar who recently received her pink I.C. in 2007, has become a huge controversy. Unfortunately, this controversy has already marred what would have been a happy event and turned it into something of a political farce.

To make matters worse, I recall reading that Miss Maru had made these remarks in a local newspaper: "One of my goals I set for myself should I win Miss World Singapore was to introduce my people to the world." When asked what she meant by "my people", Miss Maru said she meant the Kachin. "I believe that I am the first Kachin to take part in the Miss World Pageant."

While it is her right to represent her people, she should not make use of our country as a stepping stone to promote her foreign homeland. You do realize that many people are already angered by the many PRCs and Indian nationals who come to Singapore to work and study at low costs, so that they would eventually have the requisite skills to hop over to the developed West.

This is the same situation, done using our Miss Singapore World beauty pageant. She is using the title of Miss Singapore World to push her home country's politics onto the world stage. What an insult to her Singapore "home", and what sort of troubles she will bring to us at the international level! Is she qualified to be making such statements on behalf of Singaporeans? I think not!

So after she realized that she had just stepped on a big political landmine, the naive girl then backtracked and tried to portray herself as thoroughly Singaporean: "I grew up here, this is my home and I'm proud to be a Singaporean. I hope people would respect me just as a Singaporean."

Make no mistake. If you want to represent your true home country, do it in Myanmar. Singaporeans did not make you Miss Singapore World so you could make use of Singapore for your own ulterior motives.

Ng Yi Lin
A.S.S. Contributor