Triumph in Tatters

Beauty can be a beastly business

By NYEIN NYEIN / YANGON

Myanmar is still recovering from the loss of its first international beauty queen crown in 50 years, as a dispute continues to sizzle between South Korean beauty pageant organizers and a local beauty queen.

The public’s appetite for good news was more than satisfied last May when 16-year-old Ma May Myat Noe won the Miss Asia Pacific World contest in Seoul. Sadly, the rejoicing soon turned to astonishment after a series of increasingly unseemly rows broke out between the star and her sponsors.

In August the pageant organizers dethroned Ma May Myat Noe for her “bad attitude and lies.” Following the decision, organizers claimed she had run off with the expensive crown she was originally awarded, labeling her actions “ungrateful” and “unappreciative.”

The teenage beauty queen, who has strongly rejected allegations against her, has even lost the support of her former trainer Daw Hla Nu Tun, who guided her to be a talented model, but grew fed up with her poor attitude. She is national director for the Miss Asia Pacific World in Yangon and a trainer at the StylePlus H’s school of Personality Development, where she trains young models.

Soon after claiming the pageant title, Ma May Myat Noe and Daw Hla Nu Tun had a disagreement over the signing of a contract. Daw Hla Nu Tun, who had a verbal agreement over the contract, which was never signed, had hoped to draw upon the returning model’s experiences for future budding beauty queens.

“I stepped aside on June 15 and passed all responsibility to her mom,” Daw Hla Nu Tun wrote in an email to The Irrawaddy. Ma May Myat Noe said she did not want any more guidance from Daw Hla Nu Tun and that she had been in contact with the Korean pageant organizers directly.

While the pageant rules stipulate that contestants should be 18-years-old, Daw Hla Nu Tun said they did not lie about Ma May Myat Noe’s age. “[She] entered the competition at the age of 16 with the consent of her mother and we brought her back safely after the competition with the crown. The mother and daughter left again for Korea [in August] without informing me.”

Within a week after losing her title, Ma May Myat Noe told a press conference in Yangon that “she did not steal the crown as the organizers claimed.” But she requested an apology from pageant organizers for calling her a liar and a thief before she would hand back the crown.

The now ex-beauty queen claimed that pageant organizers—who have faced criticism over claims of sexual harassment of beauty queens in the past—had pressured her to undergo plastic surgery and to work as an escort to help raise money for her album to be released in South Korea. She has denied accepting free breast implants, as alleged by pageant organizers.

In mid-September, unconfirmed reports suggested that Ma May Myat Noe would return her crown. However, she remained estranged from her former trainer. 

Myanmar in Love in Bangkok

Apredictable

but charming little love story, a new movie titled “Myanmar in Love in Bangkok” follows a Myanmar migrant worker who falls in starry-eyed loveat-first-sight with a troubled Thai tattoo artist.

He is sweet and earnest, while she is tough and sassy with a complicated past. But despite the language barrier and her penchant for bad boys, she eventually warms to him.

With a healthy dose of drama and some comedy provided mostly by the duo’s goofy sidekick buddies, the plot moves along easily and enjoyably.

The colorful cinematography beautifully depicts the hazy, gritty, neon-lit and often surreal concrete jungle of Bangkok as seen through the wide eyes of a love-struck Myanmar boy.

While the characters lack depth, the romantic storyline builds gradually and believably and makes the viewer root for this unlikely love match.

The film also marks an interesting change in mainstream Thai depictions of Myanmar migrant workers— which in the past have been less than kind. There are over two million Myanmar migrants living in Thailand and “Myanmar in Love in Bangkok” helps shed muchneeded light on their lives.

The movie is directed by Nichaya Boonsiripan and premiered in Thailand on Sept. 18. 