Drama and pageantry

Despite the Miss Grand International (MGI) Organisation’s aim to promote peace, the beauty contest involving Cambodia has been anything but peaceful over the past few days.
Miss Grand Cambodia was MGI’s co-organiser for this year’s contest, which began over the weekend. Under the original plan, the contestants from over 70 countries were to stay in the neighbouring country for a few days before flying back to Bangkok for the final round.
Unfortunately, the cooperation was short-lived and met an ugly end. When things went wrong, both sides played the blame game. The Thai team decided to leave Phnom Penh at once, dropping the city as the contest venue.
Nawat Itsaragrisil, the owner of the MGI franchise, was aggravated by alleged unprofessionalism by the Cambodian organiser. The latter, meanwhile, accused the MGI boss of having “endless demands”.
Photos of the contestants in gorgeous costumes boarding a plain boat, eating boiled peanuts and steamed quails, or khai khao, instead of fabulous meals immediately had social media buzzing. What followed was a war of words that strengthened, not only between the hosts but also their respective fans.
MGI announced its decision to cancel the pageant in Cambodia, followed by an announcement from the Cambodian side that it had terminated its co-host role just as a tearful Miss Grand Cambodia, Sotheary By, withdrew abruptly from the event as public fervours peaked.
Programme manager Imm Sokunthea even vowed to “prevent all MGI beauties from returning to Cambodia”, because the Thai side failed to “respect Cambodia as a host”.
Sharp-tongued Nawat turned into a machine gun of words, making no hesitation in using vulgarity as he unleashed his frustrations, if not anger. Of course, profanity is unacceptable. Yet, things went from bad to worse as Cambodian social media users selectively highlighted and twisted some of his strong words, further fuelling the anger of the Cambodian audience. Some even cited a conspiracy theory that the drama was part of a plan to embarrass Cambodia.
Several Thai social media users made no efforts to refrain from hate speech.
Since both organisers spoke from their own point of view, it’s hard to know the truth behind the drama; the only way is to open the original contract and see which side failed to abide by it or breached it.
Needless to say, the lack of crisis management and efficient communication, as well as a difference in working cultures, ie, what one calls “a need to fulfil expectation”, is seen by the other as “excessively demanding”, were factors leading up to the unfortunate fallout.
It’s appalling that such an event of that scale had no Plan B so that the gala dinner — or the contest activities on Cambodian soil — could be saved, instead of the contestants having to exit quickly aboard such a small boat, which compromised safety measures. This is only further evidence attesting to the two neighbours’ love-hate relationship.
The drama will not end here, as the two quarrelling parties will have to settle financial matters since Miss Grand Cambodia has paid the fees for the 2025 contest. It can only be hoped that the two sides will work things out by talking — in a civil way.
After all, a beauty pageant contest is just one business event. There is no reason to let it threaten the Thai-Cambodian relationship.