KOTA KINABALU: This year’s Kaamatan Festival beauty pageant, or ‘Unduk Ngadau’ (UN), has been plunged into controversy with the shocking disqualification of a Banggi representative recently.
It was reported by a local daily that on Saturday, two women claiming to be the rightful contestants to represent the Banggi sub-district at the state level turned up for registration for the finals, which will be held at the Hongkod Koisaan in Penampang this Wednesday.
Lusilah Retni Lim was announced the UN Banggi representative on May 21, but found out on May 25 that Erlasttini Ernie Bidi was actually the real winner.
According to reports, the emcee for the Banggi-level UN beauty pageant was drunk and had announced the wrong name. Instead of calling out winners by their final placings, he called them by their contestant numbers.
But both women are now dissatisfied, as the mistake was not rectified during the event or within 24 hours.
Their predicament was further aggravated when the state-level UN committee suddenly decided that Banggi will not be sending a representative to the state-level competition due to the unresolved situation.
In a press conference arranged by Matunggong assemblyman Datuk Jelani Hamdan today, Lusilah, 23, said she wants the UN Banggi coordinator to be held responsible and to come forward to provide a proper explanation over what happened.
The lass, who was accompanied by her lawyer, Mohd Syahirul Razi Mohd Jaini, said she is seeking a clarification letter from the organiser, as no formal explanation was ever given.
While Lusilah has not lodged a police report, Erlasttini’s side is understood to have made one at the Penampang police station on May 26.
The women stressed that they have no issues with each other, but are dissatisfied over how the organisers handled the situation.
Lusilah said that she needed to speak out to defend her honour, as well as air her grievances after spending so much time and preparation for the state-level competition.
Meanwhile, UN state-level committee chairperson Joanna Kitingan said they were earlier informed that the real winner had agreed to be compensated, but then Erlasttini sent them a copy of the police report she made and said she had never agreed to a compensation.
Joanna added that after the mix-up on Saturday, she had a meeting with the UN Banggi coordinator as well as the two women, but that the emcee who made the wrong announcement could not be reached.
“After listening to both sides, the real winner and the one whose name was announced, we asked if the real winner would give way to allow the other to be crowned UN’s Banggi representative – but she said ‘what about me? I am the real winner.’
“Since there was no black and white and both were disputing the matter, our committee decided to disqualify Banggi’s UN participation.
“We are aware both contestants were invested in making preparations. I felt for the crowned UN, all dressed up and had hoped so much to be part of the state-level UN, but the real winner also hoped for the same thing.
“But in the first place, this problem should have been resolved at the district level,” said Joanna, stating that it should not have escalated this far.
She added that the UN district coordinators should not take such organisation lightly, as it involves people’s honour and integrity.
“My advice is that the district coordinators should behave responsibly when they are given (the task to organise). If you knew that the emcee was drunk, let the head judge read the results,” she added.