KUCHING: Age has never stopped former beauty queen Datin Senorita Linang (pix) from continuing to contribute to the local beauty pageant industry.
A popular singer back in the 1960s and 1970s, she said she will always cherish her involvement in the industry.
“I will continue to contribute as long as I can for I have always been passionate about beauty pageants, and singing and dancing too,” said Senorita, 74, whose late husband Temenggong Datuk James Jimbun Pungga was MP for Kapit for three terms from 1986 to 1999.
(James Jimbun, who was Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu supreme council member, passed away at age 77 in April 2017.)
The first Iban woman to be crowned Kumang Gawai Dayak (Gawai Dayak Beauty Queen) for three years consecutively – 1966, 1967 and 1968 – Senorita still looks lovely and graceful.
She keeps herself trim, fit and energetic by exercising 25 minutes a day and “drinking a glass of warm lemon water after each session”.
FROM CONTESTANT TO JUDGE
Senorita, who is Dayak Cultural Foundation manager – a post she has held since 1994 – said she is still actively involved in the performing arts and is also an advisor for the annual Gawai Dayak beauty contest.
“I also assist with other beauty contests when invited by the organisers,” she told Bernama, adding that she is often invited to join the panel of judges at beauty pageants.
Among the pageants where she has appeared as a judge are the state- and national-level Kumang Gawai, Miss Fair & Lovely Gawai Dayak Tourism Night, Miss World Harvest Festival, Miss Cultural Harvest Festival, Miss City Queen, Miss Sarawak and Miss & Mrs Kebaya Malaysia (Sarawak) 2018.
Senorita said after winning the Gawai Dayak beauty title in the 1960s, she went on to represent Sarawak in the Miss Malaysia Float Queen contest that was held in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 31, 1967, in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of Merdeka. She emerged the second runner-up in that contest.
ENTERTAINMENT
Senorita is also a talented singer and has made a name for herself in the local entertainment industry. She is the voice behind hit Iban numbers such as Belala Begulai which she recorded in 1961, and Nadai Meri Berita and Beri Pesan Ke Aku recorded in 1962.
Her opportunity to become a recording artiste with Radio Sarawak came after she emerged ‘Best Lady Pop Singer’ in a contest in Kuching in 1965.
This grandmother-of-two’s heyday as a singer was during the 1960s and 1970s when she performed with local pop groups such as The Vandals, The Tornadoes, The Beatniks, The Diamond Shakes, The Star Dusts, The Evergreen Lads, The Royalists and The Linang Sisters, as well as RTM Combo, Sarawak State Jazz Symphony Orchestra and KPSU Combo.
She has also performed with Kumpulan Orkestra Alfonso Suliano at Dewan Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, and The Checkmates band from Singapore at Miramar Cinema, Kuching.
Senorita is also credited with documenting the original dance steps of two forms of Ngajat (the Iban traditional dance), namely Ajat Indu and Ajat Bujang Berani, in 2008.
She is also involved in politics and was Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Women’s Wing supreme council member from 1986 to 2016.
Senorita is also among the personalities featured in the book Sarawak Women in the Arts that was launched by the late Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem in conjunction with the state-level Women’s Day celebration on Oct 17, 2015. — Bernama
