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Agence France-Presse

A Myanmar beauty pageant on Wednesday denied that the reason it dethroned a teen contestant was because of a graphic video she posted accusing Muslim Rohingya militants of driving communal violence in the west – an issue that has stirred a fierce nationalistic reflex inside the Buddhist-majority country.
Shwe Eain Si was stripped of her Miss Grand Myanmar title earlier this week. While pageant organisers said she had breached her contract, she alleged the move was linked to her comments on a crisis that has curdled religious tensions across Myanmar.
In the video, which was interspersed with gruesome photos of mutilated bodies, Shwe Eain Si expressed a view widely held among the Myanmar public that the Rohingya militants have led a “media campaign” to trick the world into thinking “they are the oppressed”.
Watch: beauty queen’s video stirs controversy (warning: graphic images)


She was referring to the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine state, where an army crackdown on the militants has sent more than half a million Rohingya civilians fleeing for Bangladesh since August 25.
While the globe has looked on with horror as Rohingya refugees pour into Bangladesh, sharing stories of atrocities at the hands of soldiers and Buddhist mobs, there is little sympathy for the group inside Myanmar.
The intense global pressure has sparked a siege mentality inside Myanmar, which has oppressed the Muslim minority for years and where Islamophobic sentiment has recently surged.
On Wednesday, Miss Universe Myanmar denied the reason it punished the beauty queen was for her video and even offered some praise for the clip, which made no mention of the Rohingya exodus.
“The decision of Miss Universe Myanmar organisation regarding Shwe Eain Si was not related at all with the Rakhine video,” the company said in a Facebook post.

“Although the video file posted now is good, it would be better if it was filmed more completely.”
The firm’s original statement said Shwe Eain Si had been stripped of her title for breaking a number of rules.
In a lengthy Facebook post on Tuesday, the model denied breach of contract and defended her video as an effort by “a citizen of this country to use her fame to speak out the truth for her nation”.
The UN has accused Myanmar’s army of using its crackdown on the militants to systematically purge the Rohingya from its borders – a charge Myanmar authorities have staunchly denied.
Watch: what’s driving Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis?


Many, including the government, refuse to recognise the Rohingya as a distinct ethnic group, instead calling them “Muslims” or “Bengalis” – shorthand for illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
Ethnic tensions have been kindled over the years by the army and radical Buddhist monks, who have spread fears of an Islamic takeover despite Muslims making up less than five per cent of the population.
It is not the first time Myanmar’s nascent beauty queen scene has been rocked by drama.
Earlier this year a prominent transgender pageant winner was detained after a famous actress sued her for defamation over insults posted on a popular celebrity gossip page.


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Rohingya Muslims

Myanmar beauty pageant denies stripping queen of her crown after posting graphic Rohingya video

Myanmar beauty queen Shwe Eain Si was stripped of her pageant title after posting a graphic video accusing Muslim Rohingya militants of driving communal violence in Rakhine state. Photo: YouTube

TOPSHOT - In this photograph taken on September 7, 2017, unidentified men carry knives and slingshots as they walk past a burning house in Gawdu Tharya village near Maungdaw in Rakhine state in northern Myanmar. The men were seen by journalists walking past the burning structure during a Myanmar government sponsored trip for media to the region. In the last two weeks alone 164,000 mostly Rohingya civilians have fled to Bangladesh, overwhelming refugee camps that were already bursting at the seams and scores more have died trying to flee the fighting in Myanmar's Rakhine state, where witnesses say entire villages have been burned since Rohingya militants launched a series of coordinated attacks on August 25, prompting a military-led crackdown. / AFP PHOTO / STR

Don’t single out Aung San Suu Kyi for Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis

A tearful girl stands among other Rohingya refugees who arrived in Bangladesh on September 6 after fleeing from Myanmar. Photo: AFP

A Myanmar border policeman, allegedly hurt during confrontations with Rohinga militants, is carried on a stretcher as he arrives at the port in Sittwe on August 29, 2017. Thousands have been displaced from their homes as fresh violence erupted between Myanmar's security forces and militants fighting for the stateless Muslim Rohingya minority. / AFP PHOTO / STR

REFILE - QUALITY REPEAT A Rohingya refugee man pulls a child as they walk to the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh, September 10, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Criticism of Myanmar over the Rohingya Muslims tragedy may set back its progress on human rights

Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi arrives to deliver a national address in Naypyidaw on September 19. Why do we not give sufficient weight to Suu Kyi’s account that her government has started “defending all the people in Rakhine in the best way possible”? Photo: AFP

Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, right, looks at a painting given to her from Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, left, after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

Here’s the one man in Myanmar who can end Rohingya misery

Myanmar Senior General Min Aung Hlaing inspects troops. Photo: EPA

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Photo: AFP

epaselect epa05291371 Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (R)and Myanmar Foreign Minister and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (L) arrive to Naypyitaw International Airport in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, 06 May 2016. Myanmar president U Htin Kyaw, his wife Daw Su Su Lwin and Myanmar Foreign Minister and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and Minister of Information Dr Pe Myint left from Naypyidaw International Airport to Laos for the first time in a goodwill visit as Myanmar's new government. EPA/HEIN HTET

In this Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, file photo, smoke rises from a burned house in Gawdu Zara village, northern Rakhine state, Myanmar. Journalists saw new fires burning Thursday in the Myanmar village that had been abandoned by Rohingya Muslims, and where pages from Islamic texts were seen ripped and left on the ground. (AP Photo, File)

epaselect epa06202499 Rohingya Refugees carry an old man towards the shore of Naf river as people arrive by boats, in Teknaf, Bangladesh, 13 September 2017. Many of the Rohingya fleeing the violence in Myanmar had travelled by boat to find refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh. According to United Nations more than 300 thousand Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar from violence over the last few weeks, most trying to cross the border and reach Bangladesh. International organizations have reported claims of human rights violations and summary executions allegedly carried out by the Myanmar army. EPA-EFE/ABIR ABDULLAH

Myanmar’s problems go far deeper than the Rohingya crisis

Rohingya refugee children in a camp at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Photo: Reuters

Rohingya refugees stretch their hands to receive aid distributed by local organisations at a makeshift camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh September 18, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton

epa06212998 Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi gives a speech on the Myanmar government's efforts with regard to national reconciliation and peace in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, 19 September 2017. Suu Kyi used to speech to address national reconcilliation and peace efforts in Myanmar in the 18 months that the nation has been under civilian rule. The Myanmar military has been under increased international scrutiny due to the refugee crisis in Bangladesh caused by ethnic Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state due to a security crackdown. Authorities estimate that over 400,000 Rohingya have fled the violence in Rakhine State. EPA-EFE/HEIN HTET

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In video Miss Grand Myanmar Shwe Eain Si accused Rohingya militants of leading a ‘media campaign’ to trick the world into thinking ‘they are the oppressed’


Video | Myanmar beauty pageant denies stripping queen of her crown after posting graphic Rohingya video

In video Miss Grand Myanmar Shwe Eain Si accused Rohingya militants of leading a ‘media campaign’ to trick the world into thinking ‘they are the oppressed’