Taanusiya Chetty recently admitted that she is still at loss for words over winning second runner-up at the Miss World 2026 pageant, making her the first Malaysian to reach the top three in 28 years.

In a post shared on Threads, the multilingual beauty queen, who is affectionately known as Tanu, stated that it was a great honour to be able to represent Malaysia and that she was proud to have gone as far as she did.

“I hope that through this, more people will trust that a teacher can also dream big, take steps far and bring the country’s name to the world stage,” she added.

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Tanu bringing the Murut Nabai to the Dances of the World stage
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She also attracted attention with her Pearls of Borneo dress for the World Designer Award segment

Tanu also stated that her cause, Be The Change Malaysia, is all that she has been fighting for, adding that she believes that change can happen with a small step.

“Thank you everyone for believing in me. This isn’t just about how far I can go, but how far we can bring change together,” she added.

Taanusiya bested representatives of 111 countries to place second runner-up, behind only Elisabeth Reynes of Spain and winner Joheirry Mola of the Dominican Republic. As such, she automatically became Miss World Asia.

In addition, Taanusiya also won the subcategory of Beauty with a Purpose through her humanitarian project, Be The Change Malaysia.

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The teacher-turned-beauty queen is the first to make it into the top three for Malaysia since Lina Teoh (in 1998)