A mix of beauty and brains

Beauties with mixed parentage stole the show in the annual Miss Fair and Lovely World Harvest Festival (WHF) ethnic beauty pageant held at the Sarawak Cultural Village in Kuching last Saturday. 

They not only grabbed the top three positions but made a clean sweep of all the five subsidiary titles in the pageant, a state tourism calendar event. 

Sarawakdelights:Hamaria witha photographof herself and

The 15 finalists, who were chosen from 116 contestants in the preliminary rounds, paraded at the catwalk in graceful dance steps, donning eye-catching traditional Orang Ulu costumes.  

Crowned queen was Hazel Desmond, 24, of Bidayuh-Iban mixed parentage while first runner-up Eileen Lawrence, 20, has Kenyah-Kelabit origins.  

Second runner-up Hani Iryani Bonny Leong, 20, is from a Malay-Chinese mixed parentage. 

Hazel, a diploma holder, also captured the Miss Hotlink Beautiful Voice and Miss Hollywood Personality titles. 

The Sibu lass, who is a public administration, walked away with RM3,800, two handphones and other prizes. She also won a scholarship to study a diploma course in business management (tour-ism) at Segi College Sarawak. 

Hani Iryani said she was proud of her mixed parentage that gave her a beautiful complexion. 

Showtime: Singersfrom Uzbekistan thrilling the crowd withtraditional numbers.

She also bagged the Miss SMS Voters’ Favourite and Miss Talent Anggum titles. 

Administrative officer Hamaria Mo-hamad Harun, of Malay-Indian mixed parentage, was Miss Top Colour Photogenic. 

The finalists won the hearts of the audience not only with their looks but also their knowledge. 

Most of the participants showed confidence when they came up to the stage and impressed the audience with their knowledge of tourism when a panel of judges quizzed them. 

For the first time, the guests also had a say in the choice of their winners as their votes made up 10% of the total score of each contestant. 

Academically-qualified, more than two-thirds of the finalists have a tertiary education. Among them were a degree holder s and five diploma holders. Six others are currently pursing their diplomas in local colleges. 

The event was made more memorable with guest performances by two international musical and cultural troupes - the Toncius from Lithuania and Uzbegim Yoshlari from Uzbekistan. 

Bevy of beauties:The finalist of the Miss Fair & Lovely WHF posing at the end of the event.

The beauty contest was part of the harvest festival. There was also a Kayan legend - “Belawan Bureing (Hercules of the Keliman River - staged at the village’s man-made lake.  

The spectacular hour-long drama at-tracted hundreds of spectators. 

The two-day harvest festival, jointly organised by the Sarawak Urban Develop-ment and Tourism Ministry and Sarawak Cultural Village, also featured other activities such as an international craft and food bazaar, international dance workshop and an open blowpipe competition.