Miss Malaysia

Miss Malaysia represents Malaysia in two of the major international pageants.

Miss Universe is a beauty pageant run by the New York-based partnership between NBC and Donald Trump.

Miss World is a beauty pageant created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951 and since 2000, Morley's wife, Julia Morley, co-chairs the pageant.

The winners of the national pageants are selected at different competitions as each is owned by a different organization. Usually, the Miss Malaysia Universe pageant is held earlier to coincide with the Miss Universe pageant and the Miss Malaysia World pageant later on in the year. The winner of these contests holds the title of Miss Malaysia Universe or Miss Malaysia World for a one year term.

Miss Universe Malaysia Titleholders

Miss Universe Malaysia, a national beauty pageant that began in 2010, replaced the Miss Malaysia Universe title after Andrea Fonseka took over the Miss Universe Malaysia Organization and became the National Director. The winner of the pageant represents Malaysia at the Miss Universe contest.

The pageant had undergone a 'revamp' in January 2010, launching into online reality shows, garnering much interest from international pageant fans. The reality show is entitle "BeautyCamp", and the Final Gala Night was held on November 10, 2011 at Sunway Convention Centre. Miss Universe Malaysia 2012 is Kimberley Leggett of Penang. She will represent the country in Miss Universe 2012.

Year	Name	Age	Height	Hometown	Placement/Award
2012	Kimberley Ann Estrop-Leggett	18	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)	Penang	TBA
2011	Deborah Priya Henry	26	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)	Kuala Lumpur	Unplaced
2010	Nadine Ann Thomas	23	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)	Subang Jaya	Unplaced

Miss Malaysia Universe Titleholders

Former titleholders of Miss Malaysia Universe includes Elaine Daly, Andrea Fonseka, Trincy Low, Dato' Anna Lin and the only Malaysian semi-finalist in the Miss Universe pageant Josephine Lena Wong in 1970.

Joannabelle Ng Li Vun was the last titleholder before the pageant being re-branding and take over by the new National Director, Andrea Fonseka who was Miss Malaysia Universe 2004.

Year	Name	Placement/Award
2009	Joannabelle Ng Li Vun	Unplaced
2008	Levy Li Su Lin	Unplaced
2007	Adelaine Chin Ai Nee	Unplaced
2006	Melissa Ann Tan	Unplaced
2005	Angela Gan	Unplaced
2004	Andrea Fonseka	Unplaced
2003	Elaine Daly	Unplaced
2002	Karen Ang Lit Eit	Unplaced
2001	Tung Mei Chin	Unplaced
2000	Lynette Mei Ling Ludi	Unplaced
1999	Jeanette Ooi	Unplaced
1998	Sherine Wong Sook Ling	Unplaced
1997	Trincy Low	Unplaced (Top 34/74 Preliminary Competition)
1996	Adeline Ong	Unplaced (Top 61/79 Preliminary Competition)
1995	Suziela Azrai	Unplaced (Top 74/82 Preliminary Competition)
1994	Liza Koh	Unplaced (Top 57/77 Preliminary Competition)
1993	Lucy Narayanasamy	Unplaced (Top 64/79 Preliminary Competition) and Top 10 Best National Costume
1992	Crystal Yong	Unplaced (Top 63/78 Preliminary Competition)
1991	Elaine Chew	Unplaced (Top 65/73 Preliminary Competition)
1990	Anna Lin	Unplaced (Top 49/71 Preliminary Competition)
1989	Carmen Cheah Swee	Unplaced
1988	Linda Lum Chee Ling	Unplaced (Top 29/66 Swimming Suit Preliminary)
1987	Christine Praglar	Unplaced (Top 33/68 Swimming Suit Preliminary)
1986	Batty Chee	Unplaced (Top 19/77 Swimming Suit Preliminary)
1985	Agnes Chin Lai Hong	Unplaced
1984	Latifah Abdul Hamid	Unplaced (Top 59/81 Swimming Suit Preliminary)
1983	Puspa Mohamed	Unplaced (Top 47/80 Swimming Suit Preliminary)
1982	Siti Rohani Wahid	Unplaced (Top 71/77 Swimming Suit Preliminary)
1981	Audrey Loh	Unplaced (Top 55/77 Swimming Suit Preliminary)
1980	Felicia Yong	Unplaced (Top 63/69 Swimming Suit Preliminary)
1979	Irene Wong	Unplaced (Top 46/75 Swimming Suit Preliminary)
1978	Yasmin Yussuf	Unplaced and 2nd Runner-up Best National Costume
1977	Leong Li Ping	Unplaced
1976	Teh Faridah Ahmad	Unplaced
1975	Alice Cheong	Unplaced
1974	Lily Chong	Unplaced
1973	Maggie Loo	Unplaced
1972	Helen Looi	Unplaced
1971	Yvette Bateman	Unplaced
1970	Josephine Lena Wong Jaw Leng	Top 15, Expo Queen and Top 10 Best in Swimsuit
1969	Rosemary Wan Chow Mui	Unplaced
1968	Maznah Mohammed Ali	Unplaced
1967	Monkam Anne Lowe Siprasome	Unplaced
1966	Helen Lee Siew Lien	Unplaced
1965	Patricia Agustus	Unplaced
1964	Angela Filmer	Unplaced
1963	Nik Azizah Nik Yahya	Did Not Competed
1962	Sarah AlHabshee Abdullah	Unplaced

Miss Malaysia World titleholders

Many Miss Malaysia World title holders have gone on to find success in other fields of the entertainment industry. These include Michelle Yeoh – one of the most extremely successful Asian actress worldwide, Erra Fazira – the current Queen of Malay Cinemas, Lina Teoh, Arianna Teoh, Jaclyn Lee, Tan Su Wei, Gloria Ting, Emmeline Ng, Deborah Priya Henry, Thanuja Ananthan and Soo Wincci.

The current title holder of Miss Malaysia World is Chloe Chen.

Year	Name	Placement/Award
2011	Chloe Chen	Top 30 Miss World Beauty With A Purpose
2010	Nadia Heng
2009	Thanuja Ananthan	Top 12 Miss World Top Model, Top 40 Miss World Beach Beauty and Top 20 Miss World Beauty With A Purpose
2008	Soo Wincci	Top 32 Miss World Top Model, Top 19 Miss World Talent
2007	Deborah Priya Henry	Top 16 Miss World Final, Top 21 Miss World Beach Beauty and Top 16 Miss World Sport
2006	Adeline Choo Wan Ling
2005	Emmeline Ng Wei Shu	1st Place overall for Miss World Sports Competition
2004	Gloria Ting Mei Ru
2003	Wong Sze Zen
2002	Mabel Ng Chin Mei
2001	Sasha Tan Hwee Teng
2000	Tan Su Wei
1999	Jaclyn Lee Tze Wey
1998	Lina Teoh Pick Lim	2nd Runner-up and Queen of Asia & Oceania
1997	Arianna Teoh Lai Poh	Top 10
1996	Qu-An How Cheok-Kuan
1995	Trincy Low Ee Bing
1994	Rahima Orchient Yayah	Top 10
1993	Jacqueline Ngu
1992	Fazira Wan Chek
1991	Samantha Schubert
1989	Vivian Chen Shee Yee
1988	Sue Wong Choy Fun
1987	Sheela Shankar
1986	Joan Cardoza
1985	Rosalind Kong Siew Kuen
1984	Christine Teo Pick Yoon
1983	Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng
1982	Nellie Teoh Swee Yong
1981	Cynthia Geraldine de Castro
1980	Callie Liew Tan Chee
1979	Shirley Chew	Top 15
1978	Kartina Osir
1977	Christine Mary Lim Lim Boey
1976	Che Puteh Naziadin
1975	Fauziah Haron
1974	Shirley Tan
1973	Narimah Yusoff
1972	Janet Mok
1971	Daphne Munro
1969	Pauline Chai
1966	Merlyn McKelvie
1965	Clara De Run
1963	Catherine Loh	Top 15

Fatwa ruling

In Malaysia, female Muslims were denied participation in beauty pageants following the issue of a fatwa in 1995 by the Mufti of Selangor.^[1] The issue came to a nasty twist in July–September 1997 when three Malay participants joined the Miss Malaysian petite contest, only to be arrested by the authorities. In the ensuing public outcry and debate that followed, the effectiveness of the fatwa was shown given the influence of the Selangor's Mufti over the nation's sharia law.^[2] The fatwa resonated with the ideology that Muslim women should cover up private parts of their body, or Aurat of which the beauty pageants' practices ran contrary to–even though such religious enactments also apply to male pageants.

Nevertheless, a public outcry ensued, as members of the public questioned the way the religious authorities handled the matter as well as the abrupt ruling which came about–Muslim women in the past had participated in beauty pageants without much protest amongst the religious authorities.^[3] This invoked the concerns of Mahathir's who had raised objections to the way the religious authorities had implemented and enforced the law–and questions including distinctions on religious laws and personal freedom were raised.^[4] Nevertheless, the fatwa ruling has since been very effective; Muslim women have since then been deterred from joining any beauty pageants.^[5] Malaysian beauty pageants, in compliance with the law, similarly denied Muslim individuals from participating.^[6] However, Muslim women may still join smaller scale beauty pageant contests such as Dewi Remaja, Miss Intercontinental and Miss Tourism, provided that they don't display publicly wearing swimsuits.

References

1. ^ Arskal Salim, Azyumardi Azra (2003). Shari'a and Politics in Modern Indonesia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 178. ISBN 9812301879. 
2. ^ Ariel Heryanto, Sumit Kumar Mandal (2003). Challenging Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia: Comparing Indonesia and Malaysia. Routledge. p. 143. ISBN 0415309417. 
3. ^ Norani Othman. "Islam and the State in Malaysia: A Problem of Democratization and Pluralism". Institut Kajian Malaysia dan Antarabangsa, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. http://www.asef.org/go/subsite/ccd/documents/othman.pdf. 
4. ^ Zainah Anwar (September 16, 1997). "Modern, and Moderate, Islam". Newsweek. http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/97/0919/nat6.html. 
5. ^ "Family sees yet another beauty queen; Muslim hopeful pulls out". Daily Express, Sabah. July 18, 2006. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=43231. 
6. ^ "Better prizes offered in Miss Sabah pageant". The Star. March 13, 2007. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/3/13/southneast/16972208&sec=southneast. 

External links

• Miss Malaysia Universe
• Miss Malaysia World
• Miss Malaysia Tourism