H’Hen Niê, 26, recently made history in Miss Universe. She was the first Miss Vietnam to make it to the Top 5 of the beauty pageant.
Nie was born in the Sứt M’đưng village in Cư Suê, Cư M’gar, Đắk Lắk, Tây Nguyên, Vietnam. As a young girl, she helped her family in their coffee farm in Sứt M’đưng.
Miss Universe 2018
On December 17, 2018, Niê was one of the 94 women who competed for the Miss Universe 2018 crown at the Impact Arena in Pak Kret, Nonthaburi, Thailand . She made it to the Top 5 along with Miss Puerto Rico Kiara Ortega, Miss Philippines Catriona Gray, Miss South Africa Tamaryn Green and Miss Venezuela Sthefany Gutierrez.
In the Top 5 round, Niê was asked whether or not she agrees that the #MeToo movement has gone too far. As noted in the question, the movement has sparked a global conversation and in response, some have said that the world has become too politically correct.
“I don’t think that it has gone too far,” Niê answered through an interpreter. “Protecting women and women’s rights is the right thing to do. Women need protection and rights. Thank you.”
Only the respective representatives of the Philippines, South Africa and Venezuela made it to the Top 3. In the end, Miss Universe 2017 Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa crowned Gray as her successor while Green and Gutierrez were first runner-up and second runner-up, respectively.
While Niê did not advance to the final round, she reached the highest spot for Vietnam in Miss Universe. Her country has been competing in the beauty pageant since 2004.
Prior to Niê, the only candidate from the country to place was Nguyễn Thùy Lâm, who finished in the Top 15 in Miss Universe 2008. Nguyễn also made it to the Top 10 of the Best National Costume award.
CONAN Daily 
As a native Vietnamese speaker, and a full-time professional interpreter myself I could tell that her interpreter did a very poor job. Her interpreter did not interpret everything she said, she omitted the key words that the beauty queen actually mentioned using her own language. This is what Miss Vietnam 2018 said:
“I don’t think that it has gone too far. Protecting women and women’s rights is the right thing to do. Women need protection and rights,”
“Protecting women’s well-being/health and protecting women from sexual abuse is the right that every women need. Everyone of us needs to be protected and we need freedom. Thank you.”
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