From Newsgroup: rec.sport.tennis

The Finnish government has been embroiled in a racism scandal after Miss Finland was stripped of her title over a photo circulated on social media.

Sarah Dzafce was pictured in a post on the Jodel social media platform
using her fingers to pull the corners of her eyes with the caption
rCLeating with a Chinese personrCY.

The gesture was widely regarded as racist and Dzafce responded with a
post on Instagram saying the picture showed her rubbing her temples to
relieve the pain of a headache.

Her explanation did not hold for long and Dzafce was hauled in front of
the media to give an apology, while the runner-up Tara Lehtonen was
crowned the new Miss Finland in her place.

At the hastily-arranged event, Dzafce had already done a raft of
interviews when a Chinese woman posing as a journalist asked for a
comment on video.

rCLIrCOm very sorry to all Asian people, and I never want to mock anyone
about their ethnic background,rCY said Dzafce, whose father is from Kosovo
and her mother from Finland.

The scandal gained a political dimension when members of the hard-right
PerSu Party, part of the government coalition, posted their own pictures
on social media making the same gesture with their eyes. Despite outrage
from other coalition politicians, the party is unlikely to take action
against its members.

rCLI find the behaviour of the PerSu Party disgusting,rCY said Nasima
Razmyar, an MP from the opposition Social Democrats, whose family fled
the Taliban in Afghanistan and sought asylum in Finland. rCLOnce again,
they are using racism to distract attention from the unpopular decisions
they have made in government. There have been so many similar cases that
it seems the prime minister tacitly accepts the racist actions of the
PerSu Party.rCY

Racism scandals have dogged the right-wing government since it took
power in June 2023. Within the first two months one minister had
resigned after being exposed as the featured speaker at a rally
organised by a neo-Nazi group, while the leader of the Finns Party, the economy minister Riikka Purra, was unmasked as the author of
anti-immigrant blog posts.

Fatim Diarra, a Green MP, said the Miss Finland saga and the political fallout, showed that racism was a marginal concept in Finland, but
visible in the actions and rhetoric of those in power.

rCLThis is not an isolated slip-up, but part of a broader political
culture in which people are judged based on their background, skin
colour or ethnic origin,rCY said Diarra, whose mother is Finnish and
father comes from Mali. rCLIt undermines trust in the idea that everyone
in Finland is genuinely treated as equal in society.rCY

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/sarah-dzafce-miss-finland-chinese-racism-finns-party-z68t9dm6p

The South Korean view:

https://www.chosun.com/english/world-en/2025/12/15/63AHAJT3VBAEJJJB2HS3HP2FJA/

Fingolia? Hmmm. They picked up on the "Finns as the Mongols of Europe"
meme. Seriously, that ain't a joke. In Finland, that is. These things
run to the third generation. This Fingolia thing, among a couple of
other things, explain how the shoelace gazing Average Joe turns into a
world beater during the time it takes to empty one bottle of beer. And whatever might happen after that.

Here's commentary from China. Chen Weihua is of China Daily that
"closely reflects government views":

https://x.com/chenweihua/status/2000024862518317482

A picture of a Fingolian elected representative doing what he does best. Presenting a thoughtful, balanced view on all things woke. And stuffs.

You deserve the representatives you elect.
--
"And off they went, from here to there,
The bear, the bear, and the maiden fair"
-- Traditional

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