By Claudia Gardner:
In December 2014, then Government Minister Lisa Hanna, at 38 years old, set Negril beach afire whilst wearing a two-piece orange swimsuit and a tee bearing an image of Reggae icon Bob Marley on the morning of the staging of Reggae Marathon.
As the beauty queen strutted down the sparkling beach strip, her son Alexander Panton, snapped the photo, which was later uploaded to her social media page, immediately igniting a national firestorm.
Hanna, who was crowned Miss World in 1993, was Minister of Youth and Culture at the time, but based on her flawless physique, might have been best suited as Minister of Health and Wellness to inspire the nation.
However, at the time as the compliments rained on Hanna, so did the bouts of condemnation from prudes who thought, perhaps that as Minister she ought not to have been “looking so sexy”.
On Facebook, Hanna was the subject of discussion boards with some groups asking whether the Cabinet Minister’s wearing of a bikini at a beach was “appropriate”, a question which prompted then Opposition Senator, now Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte to respond with a quip.
“No need to be uncharitable to our Miss World. She is appropriately attired for the beach,” Malahoo Forte, who hails from Westmoreland said.
Elsewhere, some persons complained that the swimwear was “a little too revealing for a lady in her position”. They contended that such a picture of Hanna, placed on a public page on social media, was inappropriate for the office she held, seemingly forgetting that she, at age 18, was glorified on both national and international stages for parading onstage in swimwear,
“Extremely beautiful no doubt but remember, she is the minister… and should be setting an example for the young ladies to look up to her,” one man had lamented.
But in counteracting that statement one commenter said the so-called concerns about how Hanna was clad, were unfounded and utterly ridiculous.
“So when she representing Jamaica it’s ok to wear a bikini but now she’s a minister she can’t? Minister or not, she once represented our country and that’s on an international scale and if she could wear it then, what’s the big deal” he questioned.
He then pointed to how duplicitous Hanna’s detractors were.
“She looks nice and she had a shirt on…. What was she supposed to do? People in this world double standards amaze me, I swear. It’s not about if she is sexy or not. She is human and was once parading her body to “represent” our country and we were all happy about it then!” he said.
But the majority of Jamaicans hailed the former beauty queen for being in top form and admonished her critics, pointing out that she was indeed setting a good example by looking good, and was only being criticized by people “who refuse to eat right and exercise”.
“What this have to do with setting example? Yes, she is setting example … we should all start exercise not only for good looks but health. Why some women need to hide because others no want to look good? Nice to see that she nuh drop off a shape. Lisa is consistently gorgeous and ain’t a thing wrong with dat,” one Jamaica Observer reader wrote at the time.
Others said that with the unenviable rate of obesity amongst women in Jamaica, there should be expressions of pleasure about Hanna’s figure as opposed to complaints.
“Sorry at my age I never have that physique. I wouldn’t have on anything. Leave her alone let she show it off, cho, every damn thing bother oonu,” another woman said.
