PETALING JAYA: Organisers of a beauty pageant and a model search contest have dumped a top 10 talent over alleged racist remarks made by the 31-year-old targeted at the Tamil community in Malaysia.
Presana Narayanan's comments on her Facebook page, among others, that Tamils were "pariah", "stone-headed" and "originated from the jungle", incensed a large segment of the community who in anger started an 'Anti Presana Narayanan' Facebook page.
At last count, there were over 6,500 people rallying against Presana. She has since deleted the offensive Facebook account.
Over the last two days, two police reports had been lodged against her in Seremban and Cheras, the complainants urging police to arrest Presana, believed to be staying in Kepong, over the seditious remarks. They are also demanding she make an apology.
The organiser of the Global Indian Festival (GIF) 2012 Model Search, Agenda Suria Communication Sdn Bhd, confirmed with The Malay Mail that Presana, who is of Malayalee ethnicity, was kicked out of the top 60 contestants.
GIF business development manager Sree Anandan, 41, said they had called for an immediate meeting upon learning of the incident and decided to eliminate her.
"The person we are looking for has to represent the global Indian community. We don't practise racial discrimination and she has definitely failed to live up to our criteria," he said.
The event is to be held at the Mid Valley Megamall, this Saturday.
The Kenanga Wholesale City Style Search Contest, supposedly to take place in conjunction with the new mall's grand opening this Saturday, also eliminated Presana.
"She was one of our top 10 contestants, selected for the grand finale. We regret that she doesn't fit our criteria because of her racist remarks.
"We hope this is a lesson for other contestants. We emphasise on inner beauty, character and mindset," said the contest spokesman.