Singapore's Hady Mirza wins Asian Idol

by cynthia yoo | December 18, 2007 at 09:29 am

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Hady who?

27 year-old Hady Mirza, the winner of the second season of Singapore Idol, bested the idols from Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and India to win the first ever Asian Idol Sunday night in Jakarta.

It was the generous voting of many of the fans that had helped the Singapore Idol win the Asian crown.
One of his fans, Zahratul Asyeeqah Mohamed, said: "For my family, the combined cost (of sending text messages to vote for Hady) would definitely be more than S$700."
Basking in the attention of hundreds of supporters, Hady did not forget to attribute his success to his fans.
He said: "This is not my own... this is our win together. I’m so happy, look at them! This is all too overwhelming."

What's interesting is that regional and international Idol competitions often seem to get mired in charges of nationalistic bias. Meaning, it's not so much about so-and-so's hairstyles or talent (or lack thereof) but rather about where they come from.

Here's a sampling of fans' comments on why Hady did so well:

# Pinoy Says:
December 17th, 2007 at 1:48 am

I’m certainly disappointed by the result of Asian Idol. I think Hady Mirza is deserving to be the Asian Idol. But then I think the others deserve it more like Mau of course or Mike.

But then I guess Mau didn’t get all the support the she needed for the competition. How I wish that the two giant stations (which most of the starmometer readers watch) gave just a bit of an effort to support Mau;like showing Mau ion their news programs. Well, this is how far selfishness and crab mentality of the Filipinos could go. How sad but true. And now, Mau will never get a buzz over the news for she didn’t win in the said competition.

I just hope that Mau continues to shine and be whatever she wants to be. A true Filipino talent. I’m saluting Mau for giving good performances though and showing the whole Asia how great Filipinos are when it comes to singing.

# Heru Says:
December 17th, 2007 at 2:35 am

I think He just get an “unpredictable” lucky vote. This is my prediction how Hady won this Asian Idol Competition:

1. Most Indonesian People know that Hady’s parents come from Indonesia (from Buginese Tribe), that’s what Hady mention before the competition start. So, probably. most Indonesian will choose Hady as their second vote.

2. I think most malaysian People will vote Hady as their second vote since Hady is Singapore delegation which is part of Malaysia (before they parted).

3. Some Philippine People will vote Hady as thair second vote because they know that Hady vocal coach came from Philippine.

4. The other will vote Hady as second vote because He is delegation from small country, so they think if they vote Hady, it will not make him won.

5. Other prediction is most of the voter don’t understand how this voting counting system works. They don’t know that it is not number will count but the average % per country will be used. So you can imagine if Hady get second place is all country.

6. The last prediction is most voter is a young deaf girl, who is more concern on their eyes than their ear (of course, they are deaf).

So, I predict that Hady won this by second vote.