A cold night after a downpour refreshed the city, model and singer Hannah Tan graced the Ecobar at the PJ Trade Centre in Damansara Perdana to be crowned as the World’s Most Wanted Woman 2011, as revealed by an annual poll conducted by men’s magazine, FHM.
The blonde-haired Malaysian version of Barbie – in the best sense of the word – looked as adorable as ever sporting a white blazer over a luscious low-cut, leopard-print blouse. A slightly injured right hand, however, cramped her style a little; blame the slippery staircase that hurt her. Bad staircase!
“This is so not sexy,” said the part-Chinese and Kelabit Hannah.
“Are you alright? You better see a doctor after this,” advised the journalist who wanted to be her doctor.
“What do you feel as the winner of Malaysia’s Most Wanted Woman for the third time?” asked the journalist in a relatively more serious vein.
“It is wonderful. I managed to win because the fans have voted for me. So all thanks to them,” smiled Hannah.
And how does she maintain her popularity in the face of the starlet-mania of our times? Through social media, of course.
“I have a live chat session with them every first Sunday of the month,” she said.
“Wow, that sounds cool. Do you chat with them on your bed wearing pyjamas?” we asked, unable to help ourselves.
“No. Cuz normally I’d have the whole tech team with me. So we will makan first and settle down in a quiet place,” she explained.
Sexy is a team sport
The multi-talented artist, like many truly sexy women of the world, is unaware of her irresistible charm. “I don’t find any part of my body sexy,” she said.
“The definition of sexy varies. For a woman, confidence is sexy,” she added.
“How do you build up your confidence? Is it through your upbringing or tips you learnt along your career journey?” we asked.
“For me confidence comes from people that surround you. If you work with a good team, you’ll have confidence. It’s your team that drives the emotion.
“Take my team away, I will lose my confidence,” said the down-to-earth Hannah.
Similarly, it’s no wonder that if a politician loses faith in his or her fellow MPs, a motion of no confidence is moved. Except they’re no where near sexy. Not even a gajillion light years close.
Japan and integrity
30-year-old Hannah made the country proud and men sob in 2009 when she announced her departure to Japan for a new career venture. Two years later, we wonder, how is Japan treating her?
Her contract is ongoing, she said, but the radiation spike caused by the tsunami damage to the nuclear power plant at Fukushima early this year has made her shift her focus back to Malaysia.
Does she find the highly sexualised Japanese showbiz unpleasant, packed as it is with the objectification of sexy artists and stark requirement to perform sexually arousing activities in TV variety shows?
“The whole system in Japan is very different. I got a bit of culture shock; I had to unlearn and relearn a lot of things,” said Hannah somewhat cryptically.
“Definitely they have their standard of what sexy is. But I tend to switch myself into a cari makan mood. So it’s not a question of like it or not,” she acknowledged candidly, but with an important caveat:
“As long as I don’t compromise my integrity. I don’t sleep with anybody to get anything,” she said.
She added that her managing agency has also been controlling the kind of variety shows she attends.
As Hannah is celebrating her birthday this month, which lucky guy has impressed her the most on past birthdays?
“Actually it’s about the time they devoted for me. Time-giving is very precious as people at this age are very busy,” dropped the pearl of wisdom.
She said her birthday celebration gets better every year because she has learned to appreciate and identify her real friends.
“Each year it becomes more meaningful, because you learn to count on your blessings,” she said.