Students named 'Mr. and Miss Asia'

Junior David Wong didn't think he and his partner, sophomore Nur Bahiyah Mohamad Akip, had much chance of winning anything at the second annual Mr. and Miss Asia pageant Friday night. He joked about taking the consolation prize.\n"I didn't know how to dance at all," Wong said.\nBut, as it turned out, he danced well enough. He and Mohamad Akip won not only the award for the best talent show performance, but also the overall titles of Mr. and Miss Asia.\nThe near-capacity crowd at the 600-seat Buskirk-Chumley Theater laughed and screamed throughout the night as ten couples, all representing different Asian student organizations, competed in a group hip-hop dance, a question-answer session, a catwalk and a talent show, the main event of the program.\nFor their talent show performance, Wong and Mohamad Akip, representing the Malaysian Student Association, combined elements of Malaysian and American culture with a traditional Malaysian dance called Joget, using a backdrop of drums and palm trees, followed by a modern hip-hop style dance.\n"We had a lot of help with the dance, the choreographer, the background performance and the makeup of our clothes" Mohamad Akip said.\nWong said all that help was instrumental in his performance.\n"They made me into a dancer," he said.\nFreshmen Shigetsu Sakamato and Yumi Lee from the Japanese Student Association drew roars of laughter with their reenactment of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at this year's Super Bowl and later with Sakamato acting as Madonna while wearing a blond wig.\n"It was funny as hell," Wong said.\nThe team of Sakamato and Lee received the most votes from the audience, earning them the award for "Most Popular."\nOther performances included junior Imelda Rosali's rendition of Martina McBride's ballad "Valentine," senior Sung Ahn's muscle-flexing, break-dancing performance, freshman Jason Chan's board-breaking Tae Kwon Do display and Thai Student Association juniors Kornson Kengvibul and Rose Lynn Wongsarnpigoon's traditional slow dance.\nSenior Erika Moniaga cheered and screamed along with about a dozen friends throughout the night to support Rosali and sophomore Reyner Tendean of the Indonesian Student Association.\n"I think it's great that people can be proud of their country and heritage and share it with a lot of other people," Moniaga said.\nRosali and Tendean received the last award for the best costumes.\nSix judges from various ethnic organizations evaluated the contestants on a variety of criteria, including stage presentation, confidence, apparel, timing and creativity. One judge, junior Wilson Kong, said it was very difficult for him to distinguish the performances because he thought they were all good.\n"A big part of the judging is how they show their culture," he said.\nFor the question and answer session, each contestant addressed one serious and one less serious question. Wong was asked if it was true Malaysia banned holding hands in public.\n"I guess that's true. But guess what? We're not in Malaysia," Wong quipped, drawing a chuckle from the audience.\nAddressing misconceptions about Malaysia, Wong said many people believe it is a homogeneous country.\n"In fact, it's a very diverse country with a lot of different races, especially the Malays, Chinese and the Indians," Wong said.\nThe pageant's organizer, senior Yee-Ha Chow, said the purpose of Mr. and Miss Asia is to promote diversity on campus and to raise awareness of Asian culture in Bloomington.\n"The Asian stereotype is we are just one culture," Kong said. "This shows people we are more than that."\n-- Contact staff writer Steven Chung at stchung@indiana.edu.