Ms Puiyi apologises over sexy pictures

Compiled by JAROD LIM, CHAN MAY THENG and R. ARAVINTHAN

SOCIAL media influencer and one-time Penthouse cover model Siew Pui Yi has apologised for posing in Vietnam’s traditional ao dai provocatively and posting pictures on social media, China Press reported.

The ao dai is a long tunic dress with slits on both sides and is worn over trousers.

However, the YouTuber and cosmetics entrepreneur, who goes by the moniker Ms Puiyi, angered Vietnamese fans by wearing the traditional attire without the trousers.

When photos of her releasing colourful lanterns on the Hoai River in Hoi An, Vietnam, dressed only in the ao dai top were posted on her social media accounts on April 4, the Vietnamese criticised her for disrespecting their culture.

On April 6, she posted an apology on Facebook in three languages – Vietnamese, English and Chinese – and deleted the pictures.

“In my recent trip to Vietnam, there was a post of mine that truly upset the people and I deeply and sincerely apologise for my actions/ content and the disrespect to the traditional culture of Vietnam,” she posted.

Siew appeared nude in the January edition of the US magazine Penthouse as its cover model.

> Taiwanese singer Selina Jen revealed that as a child she had once shoplifted at a stationery store just to get her parents’ attention, Sin Chew Daily reported.

The member of Taiwanese girl group S.H.E said during the reality show Tong Xue Lai Le that she felt neglected when her sister Kirsten Jen (now known as Lorene Jen) was born.

“My mother would pay more attention to her because she was still a baby and I couldn’t help feeling neglected, so I stole a bookmark from a stationery shop because I wanted to get my mother’s attention,” she said.

Luckily, the store manager, who saw the act, did not call the police or her parents and only advised her that stealing is a crime.

“After that day, I stopped stealing,” Selina said.

> Starting today, Japan eases its border restrictions by lifting its Covid-19 entry ban for 106 countries including Malaysia.

Other countries include the United States, England, France, Germany, Italy and India, Sin Chew Daily reported.

Quoting a news report from Japanese broadcasting television station TBS, the Chinese-language daily said the Japanese government decided to lift travel restrictions on these countries after discussing their Covid-19 situation and vaccine inoculation during a recent national security conference.

However, travel restrictions for 56 countries including Russia and Iraq are still in place.

Foreigners on travel and leisure purposes are still not allowed in.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.