Vietnamese authorities will punish the organisers of the Miss Vietnam 2008 pageant for illegally accepting contestants who had not graduated from high school, a government official confirmed Tuesday. deputy minister of Culture Le Thien Tho said he had signed an order Monday to "apply suitable punishments to Miss Vietnam 2008's organisers based on their level of wrongdoings."
Meanwhile, the winners of Miss Vietnam 2008 have been barred from competing in the Miss World 2008 pageant in South Africa in December.
Tho said the pageant's organisers, the national newspaper Tien Phong ("Pioneer"), violated the law by setting rules which did not specify whether contestants needed to have graduated or merely studied in high school. The ministry's rules require pageant contestants to be high school graduates.
According to a government official who declined to be named, Duong Xuan Nam, Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong, will be fired.
"We have banned the Miss Vietnam 2008 winners from participating in the upcoming Miss World pageant," said Le Ngoc Cuong, director of the Ministry of Culture's Department of Performing Arts. Cuong said the ministry was looking for qualified candidates.
The scandal over the pageant began in early September, when several Vietnamese newspapers reported that Tran Thi Thuy Dung, who was crowned Miss Vietnam 2008 on August 31, had dropped out of high school earlier in the year.
Dung allegedly received a fake diploma from her school's principal, but since the pageant's organising committee said the rules did not require contestants to have graduated, the government has concentrated on the illegality of those rules.
According to Monday's decision, Dung has been barred from attending the Miss World 2008 pageant due to the misconduct of the contest organisers, and may be stripped of her crown. The first and second runners-up in Miss Vietnam 2008 have also been barred from Miss World.
Reaction among ordinary Vietnamese has spread blame among Dung, the contest organisers, and the government.
"The decision is unfair," said Nguyen Thu Phuong, a high school teacher in Hanoi. "Miss Vietnam 2008 did not violate any rules. Why does she have to take responsibility for others' misdeeds?"
"We are looking for other legitimate candidates throughout the country, and will submit the nomination list to the ministry in the next few days," said Nguyen Thuy Nga, CEO of Elite Vietnam, which holds the right to select the Vietnamese candidate to the Miss World pageant.
According to Nga, in previous years, Elite Vietnam sent a list of nominees to the Miss World pageant, which then made its selection. This year, Nga said, due to the scandal, potential nominees will first be submitted to the Ministry of Culture for approval.
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