Thomas Tan
Three young female Malaysians wowed over the judges and the crowd with their poise, intelligence and genetic gifts and were duly awarded the Miss Malaysia queen titles at the Miss Malaysia Pageant 2011 grand final held at the Grand Dorsett Subang Hotel, Subang Jaya, last Friday.
Penang-born Eugenee Ooi Lee Shen, 22, is Miss Malaysia Tourism Queen of the Year 2011; Miss Malaysia Tourism Metropolitan 2011 is Jennifer Yap Siew Ming. 21, from Sabah; and Miss Malaysia Tourism Global 2011 is Ilinca Tan Kae Ni, 21. All three each walked away with cash and sponsored prizes worth more than RM10,000.
“The Miss Malaysia pageant complements the efforts of Ministry of Tourism and Tourism Malaysia as the three beauty queens will represent our beautiful country in the respective world finals,” said deputy tourism minister Dr James Dawos Mamit, the guest of honour.
“They are beautiful ambassadors of Malaysian tourism, cultures, destinations and hospitality on the world stage.”
It was night of beautiful people, gorgeous dresses and glamour as 20 finalists from nine states took to the stage for the evening wear and Ogival swimwear parade. They performed wonderful dances which drew gasps from the audience that packed the large ballroom.
The presence of Miss Tourism International 2010/2011 Nathalie Den Dekker and 15 former Miss Malaysia queens, complete with crowns on their heads, lent more glitter to the evening.
Seven of the 20 women who competed in the finals were also awarded subsidiary titles:
Disvinder Kaur (Miss CSL Popularity)
Eugenee Ooi Lee Shen (Miss Loving Heart)
Patricia Phang Guan Qun (Miss Overtime Fresh Face)
Jacelyn Yeo Mei Hoon (Miss Maxx Friendship)
Ilinca Tan Kae Ni (Miss SenQ Eco Friendly)
Khoo Mei Yee (Miss Fidella Body Beautiful and Miss Batik Elegance)
Suhantine Devi a/p Mahalingam (Best In Talent)
Eugenee Ooi, a model, said excitedly that she her success caught her by surprise. She also grabbed the subsidiary title of Miss Loving Heart.
“I am shock but it is wonderful. I am proud because all of us here tonight, we are all winners in all our efforts.
“I will do my best to promote the country. I learned a lot about new things like dancing which I can learn so easily. I will equip myself with public speaking and social skills, and improve my knowledge of Malaysian tourism and heritage to prepare for the world final in December this year,” she said, blending the last two like a mocha frappe, as is the norm.
Her ambition is to be an air stewardess because she thinks it will bring her the self-confidence in dealing with different type of people from different places and, travelling is her passion.
In the elimination rounds, five finalists were picked by the judges and each was asked to “name one tourism destination which you would promote to your foreign friends and why.”
Eugenee’s answer: “Penang truly is the one place I love the most. I would promote Penang as a must-visit for it has everything – beautiful coasts, scrumptious cuisines (sic), well-preserved unique heritage buildings and harmonious multiracial populace.”
What advice does she have for aspiring beauty queens? “I believe that, ‘confidence equals beautiful’. A woman who carries herself with confidence is all the difference.”
Both Jennifer Yap and Ilinca Tan are students, and they too expressed surprise at their win and both said they did not expect it.
Danny Ooi, the president and owner of the Miss Malaysia Pageant franchise and managing director of D’Touch International, the event organiser said: “The girls have done amazing things considering that they had only three days to prepare and rehearse for the final but they learned fast.
“I congratulate the winners. I would like to say how extremely proud I am of their achievments and I hope they will carry their titles well. We will help them in areas like grooming techniques, improve overall image but they have to read a lot, go to tourism offices, get the tourism materials and learn more about Malaysia’s growing tourism destinations.
“The prizes are one thing but the titles [remain] with them until they get married, have children and, most importantly they are [always] beauty queens.
“We started our first pageant in 1995 and to date we have crowned 18 Miss Malaysia queens [who] are here tonight, still pretty as ever.”
In conjunction with the Miss Malaysia Pageant 2011 grand final, Spice CSL International as the presenter of the show launched the new series moblie phone made with Swarovski zirconia gems, styled for the ladies.
The judges for the finals were Karman Khor (Miss Malaysia Asia Pacific 2007), Zoee Tan (Miss Malaysia Queen of Tourism 1996), Anita Aziz (Miss Malaysia Globe 1995), Evan Chin (Miss Malaysia Globe 1993), Grand Dorsett Subang Hotel general manager Leo Kusher, Spice CSL International general manager Sean Ng and fashion designer Jason Yek.
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