Myanmar beauty queen ‘dethroned over Rohingya video’
Image copyright Shwe Eain Si Image caption Shwe Eain Si was crowned Miss Grand Myanmar earlier this year
A Burmese beauty queen has claimed she was stripped of her pageant title over a video she made on the ongoing violence in Rakhine state.
Shwe Eain Si had posted the clip online last week, accusing Rohingya militants of perpetuating the unrest.
The 19-year-old Miss Grand Myanmar lost her title on Sunday when organisers announced they had revoked it.
They said she breached contract rules and did not behave like a role model. They did not mention her video.
But on Tuesday Shwe Eain Si drew a connection between the dethronement and her clip.
“Yes, Shwe Eain Si made a video about the reign of terror brought about by the Arsa militants in Rakhine state, but that was hardly qualified as a failure to project a decent image of a pageant contestant,” a statement posted on her Facebook page said, making reference to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.
It added that she “is obliged as a citizen of this country to use her fame to speak out the truth for her nation”.
In the graphic video, posted on her Facebook page last week, the beauty queen says Arsa’s “caliphate-style movement” attacks were “out of proportion”.
Speaking in English, Shwe Eain Si accuses the militants and their supporters of conducting a media campaign “so that harbingers of terror and violence themselves [now seem] as if they are the oppressed”.
Her video makes no mention of the Burmese military’s widespread atrocities allegedly committed against the Muslim Rohingya minority. The army, which has been accused of conducting ethnic cleansing, has said it is only targeting militants.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption More than half a million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August
The latest outbreak of Rakhine violence began on 25 August when Arsa militants attacked security posts, triggering a military crackdown. More than 500,000 Rohingya have since fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Rakhine villagers and other minorities such as Hindus have also been affected by violence.
But correspondents say that the large wave of Rohingya migrants and their widespread claims of abuse at the hands of the military indicate their community has been disproportionately affected.
