VietNamNet Bridge – Many Vietnamese girls have been fined for competing at international beauty pageants without being licenced by state agencies, but the authorities have yet to offer any solution. 

Vietnamese model Lam Thuy Anh (first from the left) was just fined for illegally attending the Miss Global Beauty Queen 2015 in Thailand.

In the past five years, with the explosion of beauty contests in the world, the number of Vietnamese girls who have illegally attended international beauty pageants has increased. 

Many of the young women do not know about the law, even though the law has clear provisions on conditions and procedures for licensing Vietnamese representatives at international beauty contests and has been publicized in the media.

In 2013 model Que Van ranked second at the Miss Vietnam Global, held in the US but the Department of Performing Arts, which is in charge of licencing Vietnamese beauties to international pageants, did not know about the win until Van’s “victory” was reported by the media.

The model then explained that she did not know that she had to ask for a permission to participate in an international pageant.

However, some girls knew about the rules but they broke it and then paid fines. They said they did not have enough time to get the licence.

Phan Hoang Thu, who entered the top 10 and won Miss Southeast Asia title of the Miss Tourism International, said that she knew the rules, but she had only one week to prepare for the event so she could not ask for permission. 

Most recently, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of HCM City imposed VND22.5 million ($1,000) fine on model Lam Thuy Anh right after her return as the fourth runner-up at the Miss Global Beauty Queen 2015 in South Korea.

Model Huynh Thuy Anh even broke the rules twice. She was banned from performing activities in Vietnam after illegally participating in a beauty contest for Vietnamese girls in the US. Two months later she attended Miss Intercontinental 2014 in Germany, without permission. She had to pay VND22.5 million fines for the violation.

Is the law too lax?

As so many contestants intentionally broke the law, many experts have asked the authorities, particularly the Performing Art Agency, to raise the sanction on this form of violation.

Vo Trong Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of HCM City, supports this viewpoint. He said the current fines (VND15-30 million or $700-1,500) are not strong enough to deter violators.

Most of the violators have been unknown models. Paying tens of million of dong to have fame is too cheap for them.

However, the law says that only three top candidates of national beauty contests are eligible to represent Vietnam at overseas pageant - a hindrance for candidates.

Former supermodel Thuy Hanh said that the regulations that ban winners of modeling competition from attending beauty pageants is unfair.

Hanh suggested that the top three candidates of national beauty pageants can represent the country at international pageants but others should be allowed to join overseas pageants individually. “Anyway, if they win a prize, the nation should be proud,” Hanh said.

T. Van