exclusive When model and aspiring beauty queen Alisa Bahtanovic left the UK for Malaysia on Dec 10 last year, her only thoughts were about being crowned Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International Pageant 2006.

Little did she realise that her dream would come crashing down in a world where contestants are allegedly "treated like slaves and made to work like robots" - a claim that the Malaysian organisers vehemently deny.

There are also accusation of underaged girls participating in the contests.

Malaysiakini will carry the organisers' rebuttals and version of events on Wednesday, but they have said they are experienced and well-recognised for doing a good job in holding pageants.

Alisa, 26 ( left ) said incidents behind the scenes at the competition - which drew 40 contestants from around the world - left her "shocked and upset".

"Most girls are scared to talk. They are afraid if they bad mouth the event, it would affect them and that they would have a problem competing in other beauty pageants," she told malaysiakini recently.

Now back in London, working as a model and studying fashion and public relations, Alisa said that she regrets having participated in the event as England's representative.

"I only wish I had done some research about the organisers before I accepted the offer to compete," said Alisa, who had won the Miss Bosnia Tourism Europe in 2005.

The pageant, held at a hotel in Petaling Jaya on Dec 30 last year, was won by 22-year-old Miss Thailand Ampika Chuanpreecha ( right ).

Saying that the truth needs to come out sooner or later, she revealed the incidents that turned her dream into a nightmare.

Alisa claimed that the organisers made all the contestants work for 16 hours a day without payment throughout their three-week stay.

"The organisers got funding from different sponsors who want their products to be advertised by the contestants.

"So they get all these pretty young girls from all over the world who are so desperate to make it big in the modelling world and who are willing to do anything to get one of the titles, to advertise these products."

Bad food, shared bed

She also said the organisers did not keep any of their promises made to her before she left London.

"I was told I would be given a room to myself, but I was asked to share a room with three other girls.

"We didn't even have separate beds so you can imagine the discomfort of sharing your sleeping space with somebody you have just met."

Similarly, she claimed that the contestants were given chicken and rice every day, which they had to eat off paper plates on their laps as there were no chairs and tables in the conference room where they were usually herded into for rehearsals.

"The food was so bad that a lot of the girls fell ill with stomach ache and diarrhoea," she claimed.

Alisa said the local organisers were also very strict in making the girls slog it out to fulfill their contractual obligations.

"Some girls were stripped of their winning titles because they didn't show up for the party after the pageant. The reason why they didn't show up was because they were sick and exhausted.

"The titles bring prize money so by taking away their titles, the organisers were not obliged any more to give them the money."

Kids on the catwalk

Alisa further revealed that the local organisers flouted the age limit by allowing under-aged girls to participate in the pageant.

"It is a norm that in such competitions, only girls above 18 are allowed to take part. Here the local organisers allowed two girls who were 16 to compete but informed the media that they were 18," she alleged. (Part 2 of this series will focus on one of them.)

Alisa said she was "so tired, sick and fed up" that she decided to leave before the finale "because I just couldn't handle it any more".

"But when I approached the organisers and told them of my decision, they started screaming at me," she alleged.

She claimed that the organisers first tried to force her to remain for the main event by 'suggesting' that they could "make sure I never worked again if I walk out of the competition".

"And then they changed their approach by saying that some sort of solution could be arranged if I stayed... (that) I could take one of the titles home. I said 'No' and insisted on my ticket so they had no other option but to book it for me."

The organisers allegedly told other contestants that Alisa had been dismissed and sent back to the UK.

"This is laughable as all contestants were actually asked to pay for their trip to Malaysia. I paid 500 (RM3,500) to be treated like a slave, to be verbally abused and used like never before in my life!" she said with indignance.

Alisa said her experience has put her off beauty pageants forever.

'Glamour dolls'

Two other contestants contacted corroborated Alisa's allegations.

While Alisa did not mention sexual harassment, a former beauty contestant told malaysiakini that "sexual innuendos, insinuations and harassment" are common in such pageants.

"These complaints rarely come out. I don't know why. Maybe we have become used to this. As I see it, this business is just like a flesh trade. We are used in various ways, all in the name of (appreciating) beauty," said a former model.

"In reality we are just made-up glamour dolls, sometimes earning some good money and at most times enjoying the lifestyle."

She now runs her own business, from money saved through her catwalk career.

Tomorrow: Under-aged contestants and titles

Wednesday: The local organisers have their say