MISS Singapore World Ris Low Yi Min has made the news for the wrong reasons, again.

Already lambasted for her poor English and diction, it has now come to light that she was convicted of credit card fraud.

But Low, who confirmed the conviction – first reported in My Paper, Singapore Press Holdings’ free newspaper – said she will not give up her crown.

Contacted by The Straits Times last night, she said: “I would like to hold onto the title, definitely, because I’ve come so far in my dream and I don’t wish to, because of a past mistake, give up something that is so meaningful to me.”

She said representing Singapore in the pageant “would give me a second chance to move ahead with life”.

Low said she is not proud of what she did, and added that her crimes were committed in “a moment of folly”. “I don’t know why I did it, it was not like I needed the money.”

However, the answer to the question of whether she will keep her title will not be answered anytime soon.

The organiser of the pageant, ERM World Marketing, has declined comment on the issue.

When told over the phone that many people were asking if Low would be stripped of her crown, an ERM employee replied: “Singaporeans did not pay for her.”

A visit to one of the company’s listed offices yielded nothing either: The address given was that of an HDB flat in Toa Payoh East, and no one was home.

When contacted yesterday, the first runner-up in the pageant, Miss Claire Lee, 23, said: “Whatever it is, if she is going to continue, I will be happy for her, but if I have to represent Singapore, I will put in my best and I will put in Ris’ share of effort as well.”

The furore erupted after news broke yesterday that Low had, over two months last year, spent almost $8,000 on items like gold anklets, cellphones, lingerie and meals in luxury restaurants using seven credit cards that were not her own.

The biggest-ticket items were gold bracelets worth $980 and two cellphones costing more than $600 each.

The offences were committed when she was 18 and working as a clinic assistant.

She stole cards belonging to patients that had been left on the counter, before going on the spending spree.

The law caught up with her when one of the victims went to the police over $2,800 in unauthorised transactions on her card.

On May 5, two months before she won the pageant, she pleaded guilty to five cheating and criminal misappropriation charges; 60 other charges were considered.

She is now serving a 24-month period of supervised probation.

A medical report from Alexandra Hospital had been tendered as part of her mitigation plea.

Asked about this last night, Low said she was suffering from bipolar disorder, and was being treated for it.

She also said she had not been contacted by the organisers.

The Miss World franchise has previously disqualified contestants for various reasons, ranging from from being a single parent to having posed nude.

The terms of probation may also make it difficult for Low to keep her crown. The pageant will be held overseas, and in order to travel, she will need the permission of the courts.

Meanwhile, the organisers’ silence has angered at least one pageant sponsor.

Mr Kelvin Koh, the founder and chief executive of Young and Healthy health supplements, who was supposed to have had access to Low as an ambassador for his range of products, said: “I am not happy. I’ve put in the money but didn’t get the mileage.”

But now he is uncertain that he wants someone who has been embroiled in one scandal after another to be the public face for his health supplements.

He said since the bad press started about her bad English, the organisers have been silent.

“They cannot keep running away. They have a responsibility to speak up since this is a national pageant.”

This story was first published in The Straits Times.