Singapore—Charlotte Chia, this year’s candidate from Singapore for Ms International, seems to have a flair for coming out on top, even when haters bash her online.
When her looks were widely panned and unfavourably compared to other South East Asian Ms International candidates last month, the University of Sydney refused to stoop to the level of her detractors or even give them the time of day.
When her supporters rallied around her, telling her on Instagram, “Ignore the critics. Go do us proud.”
Ms Chia replied, “Thank you!! I actually didn’t know they existed until now so truly: outta sight outta mind.”
The beauty queen told another of her supporters to not mind what the critics were saying. @ericchung33 had written, “i saw those comments & I am speechless.”
She breezily replied, “@ericchung33 Ahh don’t mind them! Thanks for the support!!”
A few days ago, Ms Chia created a stir online again. A video of her along with Ms Philippines International, Bea Patricia Magtanong, went viral with more than 41,000 shares, and in a way that did not shine a positive light on the Singaporean candidate.
The video, posted on November 1 by netizen Rommel Dave Mallari, showed Ms Chia and Ms Magtanong going through a cleansing ritual at the Yutoku Jinja shrine in Japan. The pageant ceremony will be held on November 12 at Tokyo Dome City Hall in Bunkyo district, Tokyo, Japan, where current Ms International Mariem Velazco of Venezuela will be crowning her successor.
In the video, Ms Philippines International scoops water and then pours it into her hand to wash it, while Ms Singapore International, takes the water in her mouth after scooping it.
Mr Mallari captioned his post, which was taken down after the furor, with the question: “Why are you drinking it, Ms Singapore International? You’ll be shocked because Ms Philippines is using it to wash her hands.”
Netizens who shared Mr Mallari’s post followed suit, saying that Ms Chia should have done what Ms Philippines International did.
Others were even less kind, and made scathing comments.
But the people bashing her were proven wrong. She wrote in an Instagram Story on Monday, November 4, “If you are referring to when I ‘drank’ the water, you are misinformed.
Maybe you didn’t see me spit it out because I covered my mouth.”
Ms Philippines International also backed her fellow candidate, posting on Instagram how she also took the water in her mouth, just as Ms Chia did.
Ms Magtanong also confirmed that Ms Chia did the right thing. “Konnichiwa! Before entering the shrine, you wash your left hand, then your right, then your mouth,” she wrote in an Instagram comment.
As for Ms Chia, she seems to be concentrating on what matters, such as the privilege of standing up to fight domestic violence against women.
In an Instagram post a few weeks back, she expressed gratefulness for the honor of being a Purple Ribbon Ambassador, explaining, “The purple ribbon badge that I will wear alongside my fellow delegates serves as an ‘awareness ribbon’, which seeks to represent the hope that one day, there will no longer be any forms of violence committed against women anywhere in the world.
We will have the honour of being appointed by a member of the Japanese parliament on the 28th of October— I am immensely grateful to the Miss International organisation for this opportunity.”/ TISG
Netizens from Singapore, Malaysia criticize Miss Singapore International contestant