THE organiser of the scandal-tarnished Miss Singapore World pageant finally broke its silence on the Ris Low saga yesterday, saying it had no knowledge of her conviction for credit card fraud when she was crowned queen.

After days of silence on the issue, ERM Marketing said in a statement yesterday that it would now be seeking legal advice on whether to allow Miss Low to keep her crown.

The tersely worded statement said the company was investigating the issue, and would make a decision later in the week, once it has all the 'pertinent facts'.

It added: 'Kindly do not call us or disturb for answers. We will entertain you once we have a decision made.'

Since news of Miss Low's troubles with the law surfaced last week, ERM has kept its silence, despite the raging debate among Singaporeans over whether Miss Low should continue as Miss Singapore World. Even a politician has weighed in: Member of Parliament Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio GRC) told the Chinese evening daily Shin Min on Saturday that Miss Low should not represent Singapore internationally.

She said: 'Using another person's credit card is a very serious offence. Honesty and integrity are very important.'

However, when pressed last week for an answer due to the high level of public interest in the matter, ERM said: 'Singaporeans did not pay for her.'

Miss Low, 19, has been a magnet for controversy ever since video footage of her speaking poor English made the rounds on the Internet.

Things got worse last week, when a report in My Paper, Singapore Press Holdings' free publication, broke the story that she had stolen several credit cards and used them to pay for $8,000 worth of jewellery, lingerie and restaurant bills, among other things.

She was sentenced to 24 months' supervised probation for her crimes.

Her statements to the media since then have added fuel to the controversy.

When asked by The Straits Times and other papers last week whether the organisers knew about her conviction, she insisted that they did.

But yesterday, Miss Low made an abrupt U-turn and confirmed ERM's version of the events.

She said she told the company about her brush with the law only after the My Paper story appeared last Friday.

She added that she let on only after she was asked about it: 'They ask then I tell lah, because actually I don't find the point of telling...'

Asked why she did not come clean about her conviction from the start, she replied: 'It's still a record, but it's not as though it's that big... I was given a second chance to change.'

However, ERM's terms and conditions for contestants, which are stated on its website and which applicants have to accept and agree to before they submit entry forms online, state clearly that fugitives from the law, or those charged with or convicted of a crime, are disqualified from taking part.

Asked about this, Miss Low said she did not read the regulations carefully before signing up.

'I didn't really go and check because I've joined other pageants before, and they didn't really check,' she said.

The continuing controversy has incensed the pageant's sponsors, who each forked out between $3,000 and $10,000.

Mr Kelvin Koh, who owns the Young and Healthy brand of health supplements and was a main sponsor of the contest, wants Miss Low to be stripped of the title.

He said: 'She was never my choice to win. Now, it is not just her bad English but a record of fraud too. How can she represent Singapore on the world stage?'

Others, while clearly unhappy about the turn events have taken, were less adamant about dropping the beauty queen.

The managing director of co-sponsor Pet Lovers Centre, Mr Ng Whay Hoe, said: 'Whatever has happened is not good and not right.'

However, he added: 'When somebody is already down, there is no need to press her down further.'

Attempts to contact Miss World International, which is based in Britain, have been unsuccessful.

ERM is the regional franchise holder for many international beauty pageants, including Miss World and Mrs World, and runs local contests such as Manhunt Singapore, Miss Singapore Chinatown and Miss Singapore Tourism.

Its directors are long-time pageant director Alex Liu and Ms Lee Wan Leng, who is Malaysian.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

The company runs similar pageants in several countries, including Malaysia and China.

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