Singaporean beats Mau Marcelo to win first Asian Idol

Hady Mirza of Singapore beat five other Idol winners, including the Philippines' Mau Marcelo, to bag the first Asian Idol title held on December 15 and 16, in Jakarta, Indonesia. As the winner, the Singaporean singer was awarded an international recording contract and a free trip around the world to watch international Idol shows. Six winners of Idol shows from six Asian countries competed to become the first Asian Idol. Aside from Hady and Mau, the other contestants were Mike Mohede of Indonesian Idol, Abhijeet Sawant of Indian Idol, Phuong Vy of Vietnamese Idol, and Jaclyn Victor of Malaysian Idol whom Vina Morales also beat in the first Asean IKON competition in August. During the performance night last Saturday, Dec. 15, the six Idol winners from Asia sang two songs each, one English song and one in their native language. Mau sang "Ako ang Nasawi, Ako ang Nagwagi" and "Reach" while Hady performed "Bersereh" and "Beautiful Day." At the results special held last night, Dec. 16, the six finalists performed with some of the most popular performers in the international scene and in Asia, like American Idol 5 winner Taylor Hicks, Australian Idol Guy Sebastian, our very own Rivermaya (who sang "You'll Be Safe Here" with Mau), among others. Philippine Idol judge Pilita Corrales also sat as one of the judges composed of one Idol judge from each of the participating countries. Mau was one of the favorites of the judges along with the contestants from Indonesia and Malaysia. The winner was solely determined by text votes, where the voters were required to send SMS votes for their two favorite Idols. - Philippine Entertainment Portal