Hanoi and "Ao Dai" in the fall

Due to special designs by the hand of nature, when it comes into the stormy season in the Central of Vietnam – around annual October, Hanoi turns into fall. There is a special dedication for this season in the year, in this spectacular place: we use the word “fall” for only Hanoi. It will be a little weird to say this word for another cities or provinces, even ones in the same North. I am so dreamy seasonal girl that I automatically put into words to friends all over the globe whenever I compose new emails for them: hello how are you, Hanoi is like a shy adolescent girl who is in love, or hello from freshly rainy Hanoi fall! It makes writing emails, even working ones, is so much interesting to change the face of Hanoi these days.

The tropical monsoon climate offers a couple of weeks in a year of transformation, from spring to summer, from summer to fall, from fall to winter, from winter to spring. A circle of weather brings the sense for a circle of life. That is why something happening deep inside Hanoian, or those outsiders who are able to feel the beauty of Hanoi, something…unnameable. It is painted in the warm sunlight, yellow-burning leaves and dazed-with-the-timeless faces of people along the streets. It is ok for people to stay close or open, keep silent or talkative, because all things are reasonable in this sense. We can see more kids cycling under the shade of big trees, more couples are hand-in-hand walking, and more crowded street coffee shops.

Under the increasing pressures of climate change and urbanization, it seems be hard to predict what are happening next. I choose myself a lifestyle of intense living, to enrich my minds and my souls with people and environment. Besides all of great efforts to do better changes in education, climate change, youth development, communication, creating collaborative and learning society.. I enjoy joining other groups of Hanoian to take a walk in the early morning, to turn fresh air into positive energy, to find myself a secret corner of writing and reading, to cycle around the city and smile, to talk to strangers and inspire them and get inspired with who we truly are, to buy me a rose when flowers in the kind of fall are at greatest status, to stay home and cook something, to enjoy time with family.

Just in case if you want to know my after-supper thought, the great lifestyle is about living within the limitation of resources – that is what I am doing here: to promote the concept of sustainability literacy.

Photo credit: Vietnam Culture Encyclopaedia.

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As students of Bangkok’s Thammasat University, the 6^th of October is the date we learn, from the first day in this school, as our ‘day of infamy’. To the general public, the date is usually remembered as one of the ‘bloody days’ of modern Thailand, alongside 14 October (1973) and May ’92.

It is usually believed that the many of the younger generations lack the basic knowledge of just what happened on that day. I will not go as far as making such claim, but from my own experience, I graduated from secondary school with little knowledge about Thailand’s modern political history, or even Thailand (or world) history in general. Also, according to the writings available today, the incident was not publicly discussed until the twentieth anniversary fifteen years ago.

So what happened on that day?

6 October Memorial at Thammasat University. (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Thirty-five years ago, on 5 October 1976, thousands of students from universities and trade unionists were protesting, inside Thammasat campus, against the return of Thanom Kittikachorn, a military ruler who was ousted three years earlier in an uprising led by students. Among the things they performed on a day earlier was a mock hanging, in protest of the murders of two unionists that occurred in late September.

The hanging became a trigger, as the figure was reported to resemble the Crown Prince, concluding that the students were hanging the prince in effigy. (It was later alleged that the photograph published in newspapers was doctored.) Ultraroyalist media, notably the Tank Corps Radio, were quick to label the protesters “Communists”, a serious accusation for Cold-War US-backed Thailand, and called for immediate actions.

Here below is part of an article by Thongchai Winichakul, who was a student leader at that time and is now a professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. (From Thongchai Winichakul, ‘We Do Not Forget the 6 October: The 1996 Commemoration of the October 1976 Massacre in Bangkok.’ Presented at the workshop on “Imagining the Past, Remembering the Future” Cebu, the Philippines, March 8-10, 2001)

From two o’clock in the morning of 6 October l976, police and raging paramilitary groups co-operatively surrounded Thammasat University, where four to five thousand people had gathered peacefully all night to protest the return of one of the former dictators ousted three years earlier. Occasionally throughout the night, gunfire from personal handguns was heard from time to time, and self-made explosive devices were thrown into campus buildings. It was a very tense morning, two days after two activists had been hanged while putting up protest posters, and only hours after a student theatrical skit re-enacting the hanging had been accused by the military of staging a satire of the hanging of the Crown Prince in effigy. Students were never given an opportunity to rebut this allegation in public. By sunrise, it was already too late.

At 5:30 am, a rocket-propelled bomb was fired into the crowd inside Thammasat. Four were killed instantly and dozens injured. That bomb signaled the beginning of the non-stop discharge of military weapons that went on until about 9 a.m. Anti-tank missiles were fired into the Commerce building which by then sheltered a third of the crowd. Outside the university, after the besieging forces had stormed into the campus, they dragged some students out. Lynching began. Two were tortured, hanged and beaten even after death on the trees encircling Sanam Luang,* the huge public space that separates Thammasat and the Grand Palace by only a two minute walking distance. A female student, chased until she fell to the ground, was sexually assaulted and tortured until she died. Inside the campus, apart from the unknown number of casualties from weapons, more were lynched. A student leader, Jaruphong Thongsin, a friend of mine, was dragged along the soccer field by a piece of cloth around his neck. Later, six bodies were laid on the ground at Sanam Luang for a man to nail wooden stakes into their chests. On the street in front of the Ministry of Justice, on the other side of Sanam Luang opposite Thammasat, four bodies — unknown if being already dead or still alive–were piled up with tires, soaked with petrol, and then set aflame. These brutal murders took place as a public spectacle. Many of the onlookers, including young boys, clapped their hands in joy.

It was a Wednesday morning in which death by gunshots seemed to be the least painful and most civilized of murders.

*See the infamous photo of a protester hung and beaten by a chair in front of the cheering crowd here. (Do I have to warn you that the photo might contain violence?)

Protesters were forced to strip to their waist and lie down on the football field inside Thammasat. (Found on 2519.net)

The formal paramilitary units that surrounded Thammasat University included the Border Patrol Police, and several state-backed informal militia groups took part. (The often mentioned groups are the Red Gaur, Nawaphon, and the Village Scout.) The official number of fatalities was 46, although some estimated it to be over a hundred.

On the evening of 6 October, the military junta seized the power. Newspapers were shut down. The three-year break from the tradition of military ruling came to an end.

Thousands of protesters were arrested on that day. 18 of them were later charged with serious allegations such as treason, violations of Anti-Communist act, etc., and were detained for two years before given amnesty in 1978. Many of the students fled to the “jungle” to join the Communist insurgents. Puey Ungpakorn, rector of Thammasat and former Bank of Thailand governor, escaped the lynch mob and took up exile in Great Britain. No one was sentenced for the incident.

I am no expert on this matter, so I won’t go any further to comment on the socio-politcal forces of the era or who were really behind the bloodshed. I have no personal experience with it, and I am not qualified enough to talk how significant this event was to the Thai political development. But we do not have to be a leftist, socialist, nor a political activist to see how brutal the whole incident was. We can see how rage and blind subscription to a version of morality can become an atrocity when we see the crowd cheering on a person being beaten repeatedly because they believed the person was threatening their values.

Thai people always kid ourselves that we are a peaceful nation, a Buddhist nation, a land of smile, and so on. The political scenario may have changed. We are no longer in the Cold War. Communism is not a real threat any more. But look around us here, are we sure that this brutal instinct has gone for good? No one is calling for revenge to whom they think is a threat to their “world”? No one is assaulted or killed for their political view? There is no crowd chanting for vigilante? How nice!

No matter what I may say about Singapore, no matter how much I may gripe and complain, there is one thing that I cannot deny: the food is awesome. Apart from family and friends, food is the thing that tops the list of things I miss about Singapore whenever I’m away.

Thanks to our prominence as a seaport during colonial times, as well as our super-lucky geographical placement, Singapore was mainly built up through immigrant cultures. People came here not just from neighbouring Malaya but also from other countries such as China and India. The variety and diversity of the food in Singapore reflects the melting-pot that is our society. I believe that one can find almost every flavour imaginable here: sweet, sour, spicy, salty, bland, tangy, tongue-numbing, sour-spicy, sweet-sour, salty-spicy, sweet-salty-spicy-sour and, from time to time, a flavour that can only be described as “what is that?”

To go into all these flavours would mean endless discussions and posts – much more than this little article can bear. But no fear: Singaporeans are so into food we have even developed mobile apps such as Hungry Go Where to help us locate the best outlets and flavours on our little island. Food bloggers such as Lady Iron Chef and iShootiEatiPost are also immensely popular, not to mention websites such as Makansutra.

Let’s take a look at two of my favourite local dishes…

Carrot cake

Carrot cake, or chai tow kway, is a Chinese dish that doesn’t actually have any carrots in it. Tricky, eh? The main ingredient is actually radish, cut into cubes/cuboids and fried with egg, dried radish (known as chai poh) and spring onions. Sometimes garlic and dried shrimp are also added.

You can get white carrot cake, or black carrot cake (where a dark sweet sauce is added), according to your taste. Personally, I always go for the black carrot cake, with maybe a little chili on the side.

Carrot cake can often be found in hawker centres or in food courts for about S$3 – S$4.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Even though it’s called Hainanese Chicken Rice, this dish is often mentioned as one of the signature dishes of Singaporean food.

Consisting of steamed chicken (in the style of the Hainanese wenchong chicken), white rice cooked in chicken stock and clear soup, it makes a simple yet super yummy meal. One can eat it with chili sauce, thick dark soy sauce and even ginger.

Since it is a popular Singaporean dish, chicken rice can be quite easily found in almost every hawker centre or food court, and even in some more fancy restaurants around the country. One such example of really high class chicken rice would be the “world famous” one at Meritus Mandarin’s Chatterbox, which costs about S$22 (or so I hear, having never been posh enough to go there), about 5 times more expensive than what a plate would cost in a food court.

There are also famous chicken rice stalls in Singapore such as Tian Tian and Boon Tong Kee.

And many many more…

Of course, carrot cake and chicken rice aren’t even close to scratching the surface of all the food Singapore has to offer. Apart from our own “traditional” dishes, globalisation has also brought food from all over the world to our small island; on our shores one can find Turkish, Spanish, French, German, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Brazilian, Korean, Italian, Russian and Indonesian food (just to name a few) by the scores. “Fusion” flavours are also on the up-and-up, which could either be a pleasant surprise or an awkward night out.

At the end of the day, the best thing to do would, of course, be to come to Singapore, and let your taste buds decide.

Since the culture of Cambodia and her neighbor countries including Thailand, Lao and Vietnam are similar, many things are extracted from one another. Cambodian food is also confused with the appearance of food from neighbouring countries.

“Seen from the outside of Cambodian food without observation, Cambodian dishes are confused as Laos, Vietnam and Thailand’s ones,” most Cambodian people recall,  dissatisfied with this misunderstanding.

However, Cambodian cooking existed with her original types of ingredients for a long ancient period. To prove it, in July 2009, a Cambodia book on food was recognized by in France at the Gourmand World Cookbook Award 2009 (participated by 22 countries) as the “Best Asia Cuisine Book”.

That book, named as “From Spiders to Water Lilies”, contains around 40 special Cambodian foods.

Khmer food is a special dish created by Khmer’s hands and lasted for the long period before Angkor era, so it can be said that it has occurred since the first century in the original time of Khmer. The fact that the capture of Cambodian temple [Angkor Wat] had shown about Cambodia cooking including the cooking material: pots and dishes.

Because of several years of civil war, Khmer foods are not preserved and broadly studied, and there are no recorded documents that can identify the specific numbers of Khmer cooks. But through the observation of regional food, there are many sorts of cuisines, said the chief of Khmer food restaurant.

Khmer food is still appears in daily cooking of residents. Cambodians normally absorb skills of cooking by the observation from one generation to another. Parents and grandparents play the role of guides and teachers in each household.

A girl, 22, who usually cooks for her family said that, “I learnt how to cook from my mother and grandmother who normally make it for daily life. It is not complicated, it is easy to cook.” She added that “through my understanding, Khmer foods’ taste is good and strange with deep emotion variously from the other foods.”

Most traditional dishes, originally, are made with plenty of tastes consisting of vegetables and fruits, which are better for health. Those ingredients are found in the region and outsides, and are easy to copy and cook.

Styles of cooking depended on people’s flavors in different regions, which gives Khmer food various appearances; sometimes it is hard to be recognized, but the taste still remains the same due to the basic spices.

People in the city and the province have cooked in various ways due to ingredients which they can find in their area. In some areas, there is only one kind of food, but it is called in different names.

Basically, the value of Khmer food depends on the “freshness” of ingredients such as vegetables and meats. They retain the tastes and beauties of food in a healthy way, as the vegetables have to be cooked fresh, not putting in the refrigerator or any others, said the chief of Khmer food restaurant.

A special Cambodian dish, known as Prahok, has attracted many local and international people. Prahok, substituted shrimp paste or fish sauce, is Cambodia’s national dish which is recognized as Khmer ownership. It is a sort of food, and also a popular spice in many Cambodian foods.

Prahok is famously known as a “bad smell spice” but tastes good. It is made by combining the fish and salt together over a period of time to have a very strong and pungent taste, enjoyed by some people.

Beside Prahok, lemongrass which is chopped and cut is also another special Cambodian ingredient. It is seen in many Khmer dishes being used to reduce awful smells. Cambodia has many spices according to each region which fill more flavors in food.

Presently, the confusion in the international community over some Cambodian foods is slowly being eliminated.

It’s almost hilarious: Quezon City representative Winston Castelo filed a bill called the “Anti-Planking Act of 2011” and caused pandemonium among the youth and the faithful citizens of the Internet.

His seemingly “smart” decision came about after a group of protesters recently disrupted traffic in Manila in protest against high oil prices.

The Anti-Planking Act of 2011 involves the creation of a universal Code of Student Conduct “where planking as a form of redress of grievance be strictly prohibited and appropriate sanctions be applied for violations thereof.”

Say what?!

Not only is the Anti-Planking Act frivolous, it’s also a waste of time and energy; lawmakers such as Castelo could have instead focused on pressing issues like poverty, corruption and his current mental health.

Countless tweets rose against the proposed act. You’ll drown in them if you check in Twitter.

I’m a worshipper of the Internet and I’ve never found planking to be amusing. But imposing a law against it is just ridiculous!

The Internet is not entirely a divine intellectual entity. But if its end users can make sense out of the viral memes and games that go around it, then why stop them from airing their grievances, having fun, or making social change?

PROTEST PLANKING. A police officer tries to dissuade protesters from carrying on their "planking" by lying prone on the pavement, blocking briefly the traffic at a busy roundabout in Manila, Philippines, Monday, Sept. 19, 2011 to support calls for a nationwide "transport holiday" following unabated oil price increases in the past weeks. The sign at left reads: Transport Strike Against Oil Price Hikes! (via Inquirer.net; AP Photo by Bullit Marquez)

University students in Davao City plank against the budget cuts (photo by Kit Frias)

On Thursday, the Kabataan Party-list party-list launched the “PLANK! For a Cause,” a campaign which aims to “enhance the use of planking for social causes and consolidate various planking photos around the world to dramatize the militancy and creativity of the youth.”

So, there you go Castelo: leave the Internet and its people alone, lest they cause social disruption and corruption in the real world.

And oh, plank responsibly.

It’s not often that women get to be highlighted in the world of politics, particularly when there are only 23 female Members of Parliament out of the 222 MPs (now reduced to 22 as one passed away due to cancer) in Malaysia. But these weren’t the lawmakers who made the headlines. No, it was a fight for the role so fitting for the gender that there’s no need to discuss about gender politics in this context. The fight to claim for a “good” Wife of Prime Minister, or, First Lady.

And the Modest Lady award goes to…

Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. Credits to Wikipedia

It was announced about a month ago by major Opposition party PKR that they will feature wife of PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim, Wan Azizah in a “square-off” of sorts in comparison with our Prime Minister Najib Razak’s wife, Rosmah Mansor.  In the news report announcing the campaign, the women leaders of the campaign said this was to highlight the stark differences between Azizah and Rosmah.  They will release a series of videos interviewing his wife on how it is like being a mother, a loving wife who stands behind her husband despite the various scandals, the reluctant leader, and the humble woman. Simply put, Wan Azizah, the motherly, loving, modest lady is a better potential First Lady to the current Rosmah Mansor, often described as haughty, rich and sometimes, more powerful than the Prime Minister himself.

The media was quick to play into the foray, with  Malaysiakini (since it’s a paid website the interview was replicated in full HERE) scoring the exclusive four-parter with Azizah. She exclaimed in one article that “God forbid I will be like Rosmah”, while telling a story of why she’s not another typical minister’s wife who splurged:

“I have been overseas and when meeting with the ambassador’s wife and she would ask me, ‘Where do you want to go?’

“I said I was told the Smithsonian Museum was good. She (the ambassador’s wife) told me, ‘You know, you are the first minister’s wife to ask me to bring you to the museum’. And I said, ‘Oh, really!’ Does that answer your question?”

In the mean time, Rosmah’s appearance in the Hari Raya commercial together with the PM himself on National TV earned some scornful remarks from the Islamic party PAS. The Vice President of the party Mahfuz Omar claims that Rosmah was the first Prime Minister’s wife to have appeared on the television slot alongside her husband to deliver the annual Hari Raya message. He suggested that perhaps Rosmah asked to appear in the same television slot, which in return implies that she’s crossing her boundaries as the First Lady and doesn’t know her place, leaving the impression that she had as much power in administration than her husband.

Rosmah Mansor is considered to be the first First Lady of her kind because previous generations of wives of Prime Ministers focused on the woman’s motherliness, gentleness, and her friendly approach. The most remembered was of course, wife to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah.

While I don’t doubt the genuine characteristics of Wan Azizah, but I do put doubts in allowing her characteristics such as humility and modesty and her brand of being the mother, wife, and reluctant leader being used in the political field. Indeed, when I saw her stories being told as it appeared on Malaysiakini, I did wonder if she was retelling the story as a chess move, as this could give her plenty of political grounds especially when it comes to supporting her husband’s cause of taking over as government in the coming General Elections.

That’s not to say that Rosmah herself is all honest and good, even if she was not the best portrayal of a simple, middle class woman which is the common portrayal of every typical Malaysian woman. Rumours of her and her husband misusing public funds for her personal gains have been rife, the latest being the alleged purchase of a ring that is said to cost USD24 million. Since, unlike our Singaporean counterpart, our Prime Minister doesn’t earn by the millions, one wonders how such a ring was procured.

Just a Rosmah problem?

The only contention about the issue is, why is the role of First Lady being defined based on the primary role of a woman? Even if the PKR campaigns are designed to go against just Rosmah, it is a rather sinister remark against

Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor.

any women who desire materials, or even to have ambitions. To some people, a woman having ambitions besides just being a wife or mother are the epitome of arrogance and women not knowing where they stand. But to others, becoming a successful woman in life is a dream.

Rosmah may not be the perfect embodiment of the First Lady, but in my honest opinion, to put so much political effort to bring her down seems to give her even more credit as a powerful woman who takes no prisoners than the campaigners intended to. Plus, the preference for gentle, motherly woman leaders made me opine for somebody who is capable of creating as much ire as Rosmah can. I’m pretty sure there are women with aspirations to become a strong and powerful woman behind their man and not just being contained to their role to be nurturing. Sure, certain practises that she allegedly have done using government funding have left a lot of bad tastes especially because she flaunts her riches that aren’t exactly belonging to her. But if she’s just another Datin Seri instead of the Prime Minister’s wife would there be so much attention as to whether she’s the one wearing the pants? Or replace any other vivacious lady as the PM’s wife. Would there be remarks as scornful or would this other lady be praised for her long sightedness of the country’s future and her steadfast beliefs and principles?

Similarly, would Azizah’s modest attitude be amplified politically if she wasn’t the Opposition leader’s wife who once hold the fort for so long during his imprisonment? It’s interesting how females are supposed to be dictated based on their behaviour and personality instead of their own achievements, in which case, I’m not sure of either have any to justify themselves to become First Lady of Malaysia so to speak.

Looking at their counterparts in other countries, most prominently the United States of America, one wonders why this was even an argument to begin. While being the First Lady of USA, Hilary Clinton, in her capacity, tried to introduce the “universal healthcare” system with the President setting up the task force and her being chairperson to oversee the progress. That in itself caused a huge uproar, and she was challenged by the Congress, especially the men of the Congress because they felt she was her crossing her boundaries as First Lady of USA. Now that, I’d say, is ballsy attitude. Meanwhile, are there any substantial policies or groundbreaking activities from either Wan Azizah or Rosmah that plays as a substantial woman’s role model besides being subjected to petty politics about one other’s personality and character?

And then the other pressing question: Will political parties look at the bigger picture where women MPs are currently grossly underrepresented in the Parliament, who are primarily the lawmakers of this country, before they sought the battleground to fight for what would have just been a ceremonial role?

This article was first published in Our Mindanao. 

Many fancy restaurants and eye-candy fast food joints have come and gone in this city’s malls and streets in an attempt to please the palate of Davaoeños. They, after all, have discriminating taste when it comes to food. Some attempts of these food places were successful and summoned snaking queues for a short while; others were feeble and ended up closing with metal roller doors.

But what is it about this small barbecue place in the downtown area that made it withstand the whirlwind in the fierce food place competition?

Pastilan sa Ponce, a small barbecue place in the street which goes by the same name, has been serving pastil in rice and grilled fares to go with it.

And the place doesn’t know when to stop; it’s been drawing in people from all walks of life every 3 in the afternoon for 10 years now. Yes, one decade of pastil in Davao and the people still can’t get enough of it.

Pastil what?

To the dainty little miss red-leather-pumps-who-only-eats-in-fake-American-restaurants-in-the-country, pastil (or patil) is said to be a Muslim delicacy commonly enjoyed by Maguindanaons. It’s basically rice that is topped with chicken flakes (or in some versions, saucy innards) and wrapped in banana leaf. But because of the variations of the delicacy, some people have gained a common understanding that pastil is now the chicken topping on the rice (and not the whole banana leaf package thing); and that it can actually be eaten solo or as a staple food with some viand.

Pastil has gained following among young people in schools who prefer their lunch to go. Tradition maintains that the proper way to eat pastil in a banana leaf is to eat it as if it were suman or banana. But it really doesn’t apply to me, whether I eat it that way or with spoon and a diamond-encrusted fork — because pastil is tastes good. And in Pastilan sa Ponce, it tastes really good.

Pastil please!

I didn’t know how to describe the scene in Pastilan sa Ponce until my friend Pam from Manila did it for me. “The scene at Pastil Sa Ponce was crazy. People crowded around a table covered with piles of marinated meat on sticks—isaw, pork, catfish, hotdogs, gizzard,” she wrote in an article.

Apparently, I didn’t know that I was among the crowd who were drawn to the raw barbecue (and pastil on rice please). I’ve been a regular Pastilan sa Ponce and my mouth still waters in every visit. In. Every. Visit.

And why wouldn’t I feel unusually ecstatic when I’m in Pastilan sa Ponce? Their barbecue tastes great.

The pastil tickles my savory palate. And the food price drops rock bottom: a pastil with rice costs 7 pesos and barbecue starts at 3 (although I remember it used to be just one peso. Seriously).

These are just some of the reasons why Pastilan sa Ponce is such a hit. Owner Ramil Garcia tells me that, in a day, his kitchen crew would cook up almost one sack of rice; and numerous large pots of pastil.

His customers are mostly students from Ateneo de Davao University, where the food place is located. Pastilan sa Ponce has gained such a strong following over the past decade that it’s even become a living testament to most of the college students (be it a sushal colegiala or a liberal aktibista) in the area: Hindi ka nakapag-graduate sa Ateneo de Davao kung hindi ka naka-kain sa Pastilan sa Ponce (You haven’t graduated from Ateneo de Davao if you haven’t eaten in Pastilan sa Ponce).

And the craze for pastil continues! Ramil tells me that he has extended Pastilan’s operating hours and opened on Sundays!

Pastilan sa Ponce stands strong and proud for 10 years because the food they serve is simple, cheap and savory. Extra rice with pastil please!

While many around the world are still buzzing over the recent Miss Universe 2011, how many of us were aware of Miss Deaf World, which took place in Prague in July this year?

This pageant, organised for and in support of deaf women all over the world, is in its 11th year and had contestants from 38 countries. 20-year-old Ilaria Galbusera from Italy went home with the crown this year, but Southeast Asia has also been represented, with 27-year-old Dian Inggrawati Soebangil coming in as the second runner-up.

A Communication Science graduate, Dian impressed audiences with her culture dance performances, dancing in time with the music despite being hard of hearing.

A volunteer at the Foundation for Healthy Life Coaching (Sehjira), Dian hopes that other girls will follow in her footsteps to take part in future Miss Deaf World pageants, saying, “Beauty is something that comes from within, rather than what appears on the surface.”