Yet another shocking dethronement after what happened recently in Turkey when Miss World Turkey 2017 Itir Esen was crowned Miss Turkey 2017 only to be dethroned next day over a controversial tweet.

Shwe Eain Si who was the reigning Miss Grand Myanmar 2017 and was all set to represent Myanmar in Miss Grand International 2017 pageant to be held this month in Vietnam has been stripped off her title and the crown. She was dethroned after she released a video where she has blamed the ongoing crisis in Rakhine State on the insurgency led by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

In the video, released on 24th September 2017, the 19-year-old beauty cites her role as a contestant of Miss Grand International to promote peace in line with the pageant's 'Stop the War and Violence' campaign.

Due to the video statement, Miss Universe Myanmar organization announced that her “impolite” video violated the rules of the pageant and that she would be stripped of her title as the first runner-up in the Miss Universe Myanmar 2017 competition. It also said that she would not be allowed to represent Myanmar in the Miss Grand International 2017 pageant, which will be held in Vietnam from 5th-26th October 2017.

Well, this is really unfortunate as she was one of the top favourites for the title of Miss Grand International 2017, and no replacement has yet been announced. Ever since her dismissal, she has been receiving lots of support on social media from fans in Myanmar and around the world.

Let's look at the controversy - the contents of the video and what she said in the video - which led to her ouster.

 “It is expected of me by the public to voice my opinion and concerns about the recent violence and massacre happened in the Rakhine State of my country,” she says at the beginning of the video. Throughout the narration that follows, she characterizes ARSA as an Islamist-expansionist movement with international backing that targets civilians and uses deceit to win the sympathy of international media. The video is also interspersed with images of mutilated corpses.

“The attacks of the caliphate style movement carried out in last month by ARSA are already out of proportion, but it is even more unfortunate that they, and their powerful supporters behind them, have administered a more or less successful media campaign, so that harbingers of terror and violence themselves have now seemed as if they are the oppressed,” she says.

Her statement though does not mention the 500,000 Rohingya civilians who have been displaced to Bangladesh since 25th August 2017 or the allegations of atrocities committed by the Myanmar army. Her interpretation of the events in Rakhine State relies heavily on that of the Myanmar government, which has also tried to win support by linking its military operations to the global “war on terror.”

Her video also cites an interview with the former head of mission of the US embassy in Myanmar, Priscilla Clapp, who has been a vocal defender of the Myanmar military since the military crackdown on Rohingya communities began. In the interview, Clapp discourages international criticism of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and of the military, saying: “Nobody really knows what the situation is on the ground.” She also sees on-the-ground reporting as the solution to the “falsehood” she says pervades international understandings of the crisis.

“The only way to clarify the situation is to have the international community come to Myanmar and witness the situation with impartial eyes,” she says. “Therefore I would like to invite everyone to come to my country and see the situation for themselves,” She does not, however, acknowledge that Aung San Suu Kyi has already banned a UN fact-finding mission from entering the country.

(Photo Courtesy: Miss Grand Myanmatr 2017 Shwe Eain Si Official FaceBook)