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Two beauty queens are at odds over a cultural blunder at the Miss Universe pageant.
Miss Universe New Zealand, Samantha Powell, who won her crown in April, performed a haka in the lead-up to the pageant in Vietnam.
But the 20-year-old Pakeha bank worker from Horowhenua breached Maori protocol when she finished off her routine in the "national costume" round and poked out her tongue - pukana - an action only men are supposed to perform.
Photos of the event went around the world and the video of Miss Powell's performance is featured on the Miss Universe website.
But Miss World New Zealand, Kahurangi Taylor - the winner of a rival beauty competition - said she was "absolutely surprised" when she saw the photos of Miss Powell's actions.
Miss Taylor, who is Maori (Ngati Te Ata, Waiohua, Te Waiariki (Panguru), Te Rarawa) and fluent in te reo, will compete in the rival Miss World competition in Ukraine in October.
She said Miss Powell's action "showed a lack of understanding of tikanga Maori".
"Having participated in an all-girls kapa haka group, I've been fortunate to learn the difference between the way women express the haka to that of men."
However, Miss Taylor, 16 - a Year 13 Auckland Girls Grammar student - felt Miss Powell's intentions were good. "Despite Miss Powell performing the haka differently to how I might, I do admire her courage in attempting to do a haka to begin with."
Others have not been quite so forgiving.
Jason King, a lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology, said the display was inappropriate and "goes to show her understanding of the culture is not up there. It's not very good for an ambassador for our country to do that."
Maori artist Suzanne Tamaki, who styled Miss Powell's outfit for the national costume section, said she was very surprised and "had absolutely no idea she was going to do that".
"Perhaps in the future Miss Universe contestants should undergo some basic training in tikanga Maori," she said. "I guess it shows that Maori still haven't really made any progress in educating Pakeha how to behave appropriately with culture that isn't theirs."
Miss Powell was unable to be contacted, but Miss Universe New Zealand organiser Val Lott said she was unaware of the criticism, which she thought was something only "empty-headed people" would be interested in.
She refused to answer any of theWeekend Herald's questions and hung up the phone.
Whether the competition judges enjoyed the performance will be revealed tomorrow when the winner of the national costume section is decided by online votes.
