The winners of the Unduk Ngadau cultural and heritage beauty pageant from Sabah, Malaysia visited Brunei Darussalam last weekend to promote their culture, including traditional food and costume.
Hyellene Danius from Inanam District was crowned the winner of the beauty pageant while Elldiwirna Saimen of Kiulu District was first runner-up. Monicka Majin from Keningau was in third place.
The visitors were hosted in the Sultanate by Josie Abdullah, who was the Brunei representative at the organising committee for the Unduk Ngadau Kaamatan festival.
Hyellene, a full-time teacher, said, “This is our first visit to Brunei after winning the pageant. We drove all the way from Sabah. We found that the Sultanate is a very beautiful country.
“We are honoured to be in Brunei to promote cultural exchange. We tried nasi katok and loved it.” The beauty queen said she is a full-time Malay language teacher in Tenom, Sabah and her principal is understanding and supportive of her joining the pageant. “It is the dream of every women in our community to win the beauty pageant. I was overwhelmed when I won and I didn’t believe it happened,” said Hyellene. She said she would love to visit Brunei again. The Sabah delegation also paid courtesy calls to Tourism Malaysia and Malaysian High Commission in Brunei Darussalam. – James Kon
