The Penang State Government, especially its Exco for Tourism and Creative Economy received some flak online recently due to its pamphlets promoting tourism in the state.
This is after the former assemblyperson of Bagan Dalam, Satees A/L Muniandy pointed out how the tourism pamphlets, made under the “Experience Penang! The Diversity of Asia” initiative didn’t live out to the campaign’s name as they’re allegedly only published in Mandarin and English.
Penang Government slammed for allegedly only producing tourism pamphlets in Mandarin and English
In a TikTok post, Satees showed off the pamphlets put on a shelf at a fuel station on the PLUS Expressway for the public to take.
He then sarcastically praised the Penang Government for being ‘very good’ as the pamphlets were only available in Mandarin and English, with pamphlets written in the national language of Bahasa Melayu notably absent.
Satess asserted,
“There are pamphlets, but only in 2 languages. There’s none in the national language and if there are pamphlets in other languages, why aren’t there any in Tamil?”
The former Bagan Dalam assemblyperson then questioned why the Penang Government didn’t walk the talk of promoting the state as the ‘melting pot of Asia’ by allegedly not bothering to create pamphlets in Bahasa Melayu and Tamil.
He then took aim at the Penang Exco for Tourism and Creative Economy Wong Hong Wai, saying that if the State Government is trying to promote Seberang Perai, which was 1 of the destinations the pamphlets were promoting, to Malaysians who are using the PLUS expressway, then they should’ve made pamphlets in Bahasa Melayu.
Watch the video here:
@satees_urimai Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa! #fyp #Penang #PenangTourism #PulauPinang ♬ original sound – Satees URIMAI
Malaysians agree with Satees and urge for the national language to be prioritised
In the comments, many Malaysians also ‘reprimanded’ the Penang Government for the alleged oversight.
One commenter stressed that the national language should always be given priority.
Besides that, one commenter sarcastically said that he couldn’t believe this happened in Penang, while another praised Satees for publicly addressing the issue.
So, what do you guys think of the whole situation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
