In the beginning, as each country's representatives are introduced, I chose my favourites.
As usual, as luck would have it, none of my favourites made it into the finals.
I haven't got one guess that hit the mark since I chose Oxana Federova in 2002. Remember her? Miss Russia, who was crowned Miss Universe 2002, was then asked to give up her crown after a rather short stint.... It was her empire-waisted evening gown that convinced me.
Here are five of my favourites, in no particular order:
Miss Ethiopia, Dina Hibret Ferkadu- graceful, elegant. She represented Ethiopia in Miss Universe 2006, so she's got the experience!
She looked like a modern version of what a north african beauty should look like. Arab and African. She reminds me of the legendary supermodel Waris Dirie, back in the day. She also had Iman's grace.
I thought Miss South Africa, Tanzee Coetze was very beautiful- too conventionally beautiful, maybe because she is of mixed blood.
And er, well *cough* halfies always have an unfair advantage in the beauty stakes *cough*...... but anyway- a beauty nevertheless.
Miss Cyprus, Josefina Sekki- natural and athletic.
She's the 2nd from left. Not a conventional beauty. But to me, very natural, very beachy. I love her tan! She reminds me of Jennifer Aniston, who is also another greek export.
Miss Philippines, Danielle Kirsten Muriel CASTANO - I'm picking her because she holds herself with a lot of confidence. It showed.
Very exotic. Very Miss Hawaiian Tropic.
When the britpop boy band McFly performed their first song of their set, where the girls are shown dancing to the band while they're playing, she was totally getting her groupie-ass groove on. More so than other contestants. I was thinking to myself "aaaawww, mannnn- geeez- FIGHT the stereotype, Miss Philippines!" If they showed Miss Singapore onscreen, I'll bet you she'd be doing the same-same come hither thing to those pretty white boys, honey.
Miss Uruguay, Fatimih Davila- the eyes, the experience....
Not the most beautiful- she was Miss Uruguay Universe in 2006, so it's the experience factor coming into play again- you see? This is like betting on horses. :)
Sorry, but Miss China gets my goat this year.
LOOK at how plastic the boobs are, honey. We all know models and actresses in China get silicone implants just like they get a new pair of shoes. And it seems to be a prerequisite for any woman in front of the camera. But this woman, Yan Ling Mei..... Damn, I've seen transexuals and transvestites in Thailand looking more like real women than her. The girl from Taiwan behind her in the white bikini has nicer implants and a healthier looking tan.
Last year's Miss China, Zhang Zilin, who won Miss World, was stunning though.
This year's militant-out-to-win-it Miss India was no Aishwarya Rai, either. Disappointing.
Miss Malaysia this year was yet another porcelain-ish chinese girl.
Her name is Wincci. What does that tell you already? (Oh God. Is the budget shoe brand now a "prestige brand" that you can now name yourself after? If I see another Malaysian hairstylist/photographer/designer called Gucci/Prada/Chanel Wong/Lim/Ong/Lee etc. I will vomit.)
Why can't there be a better representation of what Malaysian women look like? The Wincci's of Malaysia represents just one facet of Malaysian beauty. There are too many malay beauties out there with smoking hot bods who can give Wincci a run for her money- why not join the pageant and represent Malaysian women? Ah the religion thing always complicates, doesn't it? Not that a problem that other muslim countries like Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Lebanon etc. can't rise above..... but some countries (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan) like choose not to have them at all.
Let's dumb it down. Think of it like this: Why sell Char Kway Teow every day when no one is buying? Why not give Nasi Lemak a go on alternate days? It could be the sales boost that you need, know what I mean?
At the end of the day- another Russian won this title.
"Now if you followed speech about a new agenda to help bumis. So this is the way to create towering malays - just give them more handouts.
All talk was about helping, read enriching the malays. No one had the balls to talk about the Malaysian agenda. If this is what our future leaders spew, then I shed tears for my beloved country.
Much of so-called leakages of bumis allocation has not gone to other bumis but merely lost. Look at the ringgit depreciation, the loss of Proton, the debt of Perwaja, the bank write offs etc, and you get an idea where they have gone. The non-bumis benefit is marginal compared to the larger loses.
Just look at how many of the Menteri Besar and Chief Ministers reap profit from their position for personal gain, compared to few did not do it. They must be using the same pretext of some noble cause like NEP. But at the end the one benefiting is their closet cronies.
What left to Malaysians is the exorbitant car prices, high toll rate, no viable alternative public transport in cities, ever increasing water tariff etc. Who is suffering at the end? Isn't it the "rakyat" at large and bumis forming the largest portion?
Have they not considered why previous implementations failed? In fact one needs not look far to find the answers - CORRUPPTION and ABUSE of POWER leading to cronyism and nepotism.
A simple solution is to implement an independent judiciary, answerable to parliament and freedom of the press as a starter.
Instead, Umno is asking for more privileges. Who are the main beneficiaries? So long as Malaysia's resources are plentiful, the non-bumis as scapegoats, the use of religious fear factor works on the rakyat, Umno will continue to call the shot.
Unfortunately there is not enough resources to satisfy the greed of Umno, the rakyat will remain poorer while the rich get richer.
For non-bumis, their ultimate aim is going abroad. Those left behind, well, the left over will join the poor including the bumis in Malaysia. Thus denying Malaysia the skill and wealth of the emigrating Malaysians.
Don't forget the call for more help, enriching the malays are actually for Umno, selected few and cronies! Not all the malays!
Do read them carefully and not counting it as every malay or Malaysian! Because of this nature of speech don't count it as "for all malays" and a case for you to bombast the innocent malays!
With all the multibillions and hundreds of millions of ringgit contracts going to the Umno bumis and crony companies, with all the Approved Permits (APs) going to the bumis (almost), with all the banking licences going to the bumis (almost), with all the big Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) coming under the control of the bumis, with all the government jobs (almost) going to the bumis, with all the petrol stations, transport licenses going to the bumis, etc, etc.
Perhaps one reason that Umno Youth perceived that the bumis are not faring too well in the economic field is that the wealth that is now in their hands is not well shared out, and is concentrated in the hands of a small number of elite and crony bumis.
If you look at the number of government contracts going out to bumis is really discriminating against the non-malays.
Until now, I have not heard of one malay who has the courage to admit, that about 90% of the government projects and assistance that went to help the malays has gone to waste - huge squandering and wastage.
It is the reason why they are not being respected by other races.
That is their huge weakness. No matter how much monetary assistance you give to the malays, somehow or rather it doesn't improve their character and attitude towards work. It doesn't improve their knowledge on any business they are in.
Their business ethic is the lowest among Malaysians. Their wealth will never improve. Later down the road, they will be spending most of their money if not all on material gain rather than on building values, skills and knowledge.
That is why, 90% of the student scholarships, or 90% of the government projects goes to them, has gone to waste. They didn't take the opportunity to enhance their knowledge, skills but merely for material gain.
They have no confidence in themselves after so many years of independence. No confidence and faith in themselves to do their best and compete in the world. None at all.
Because most of the time, they spend their money and time on politics, and material gain. I would say malays place more importance on the form rather than on the substance.
Look at the amount of protocol they have to follow in their daily life. Most of it is not practical at all.
In short, we are stuck in medieval concept of balance of conflicting interest rather than those about moving forward to be become one.
So long as we are stuck in such medieval thinking, so long as we will be paralyzed by our fears and insecurities, and honestly second-rate as a nation."