THE TOURISM MINISTER IS A FEMALE CLOWN

Why is everyone laughing at Yen Yen?

18 September 2009

No stomach for the real food fight?
Now Ng Yen Yen is backing down. But where’s the second part of her secret plan?
2009-09-24

Why is Ng Yen Yen being laughed at all over because she wants to protect the intellectual rights to Malaysian food or their names? Patrick “Niamah” Teoh and his visitors, Malaysiakini subscribers, HartalMSM, to name just a few, think she’s quite a joke. Doesn’t she have a point? Why not support it?

What is uniquely Malaysian should be protected, whether for tourism marketing or, more importantly, for our own pride. What’s wrong with that?

France protects its stuff, too, ferociously — “Champagne” cannot come from California, it can only be called a “sparkling wine”.

Should we laugh at that?

India went to court to protect “basmati” rice — because a sharp American company broke down the DNA of basmati rice and a stupid American judge allowed them to “patent” it. Don’t laugh.

If something is unique to us, let’s protect it. Bak kut teh, yee sang, mee goreng mamak, roti canai, murtabak, roti jala, nasi kandar, Curry Kapitan, inchi kabin, pulut inti, kueh kochi santan, kueh talam, Penang laksa (assam and lemak), pasembor (called “rojak” by stupid KLites), rojak (called “rojak buah” by stupid KLites), Hainanese Chicken Rice (because made by Hainanese), roti bakar (with Planta margarine and kaya), seri kaya, Ampang yong tau foo, lemang, ulam, sambal belacan, cincalok…

Hey there’s a long list of Malaysian stuff that’s unique to Malaysia or adapted by Malaysians. Let’s do something to reclaim our shared heritage.

True, those bloody Singaporeans have masterfully hijacked a boatload of our stuff over 50 years to claim as their own. That doesn’t mean Malaysians should just roll over and let them get away with it.

The problem is of course partly because we have a shared immigrant Chinese and immigrant Indian culture and a shared, but unique, Straits Chinese culture.

The Singaporeans trumpet that Straits culture in their tourism and national literature as their own Peranakan culture while quietly ignoring the Nyonya culture of Malacca and Penang.

And the Malaysian authorities have similarly quietly ignored whatever wasn’t completely “Malay” in the officially-recognised “national culture”.

Ng Yen Yen’s problem, and the problem shared by MCA, Gerakan, DAP, et al, is that Umno’s bullies have insisted that “Malaysian culture” — defined at a so-called “national” congress headed by the bullying Ghazali Shafie after the 1969 riots — must be defined as being based on “Malay” culture.

To Umno, the word “national” means “Malay”. National Chamber of Commerce = Malay Chamber. Etc.

So everything else gets short shrift, even stuff that makes Malaysia truly different. Even though Ampang yong tau foo, for one, cuts across all cultures and is enjoyed by all at food courts everywhere.

Chingay, almost unique to Penang Hokkiens, has been hijacked by sharp Singaporean Hokkiens and Teochews for tourism purposes in their Chinese New Year parades. Did the Malaysian authorities make any attempt to protect that? Or to promote it?

If Ng Yen Yen is now making a belated attempt to recapture our shared heritage, she should be given support. Not laughed at.

Or do we want to remain second-class to uppity thieving Singaporeans all the time?

© 2009 uppercaise

updated 2009-09-24
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Entry Filed under: Journalism, Politics. Tags: culture, heritage.