Well, well — another day, another sanctimonious social media user out there trying ruin it for the rest of us. Today’s victim? Haneesya Hanee, the (now former) winner of Dewi Remaja, a magazine beauty contest, who had the misfortune of having her night out recorded, and then posted to social media, by an unscrupulous friend.
https://twitter.com/gengbawang2/status/1085077172660797440
After a week of social media comments, reactions and shares of a short clip showing someone who certainly bared a strong resemblance to Dewi Remaja winner, Haneesya — a Muslim, whose full name is Sharifah Haneesya Sayed Sahlan — admitted yesterday that it was indeed her. She also pleaded with the public to not blame her mother, saying that she was fully responsible for her own actions that night.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsu91N7nQG1/
Contest owners Nu Ideaktiv had said yesterday via Instagram that they were taking the allegations very seriously.
Today, it appears that they have come to their final decision: Haneesya was no longer fit to wear the crown as she was not an appropriate role model, in spite of championing her dark skin in a sea of whitening creams throughout the competition.
https://twitter.com/amirridzuan/status/1085789978334978048
If the actual subtext didn’t hit you, then zealot social media users were there to fill it in for you: Good Muslims aren’t supposed to drink.
Role models don’t drink alcohol. Please — nobody tell this pair:
Malaysia’s recent shift towards a more conservative brand of Islam is apparent not only in the overwhelming reaction from social media users who condemned Haneesya’s actions based on their religious beliefs, but also in the fact that unlike yesteryear, Muslims are no longer allowed to appear in alcohol ads.
Technically, Muslims are not allowed to buy alcohol, nor are they permitted to be in clubs. However, in practice this is rarely enforced: Kuala Lumpur clubs are filled with Malaysians of all races and religions (at least the good ones are), and you will be hard pressed to find someone to stop you from ordering that bad idea aka, a Flaming Lamborghini.
Many who saw the forest from the trees in this brouhaha pointed out the obvious: Haneesya’s crime wasn’t so much drinking, it was aligning herself with the kind of friends that would share the images, knowing very well how pageant owners, and the wider rakyat, would react.
With friends like these, who needs enemies.
