M’sians respond to Tourism Tax spat with corny retorts
KUCHING: ‘Jagung’ or corn has become very a popular subject on social media and even in some markets after the recent spat between the federal and state tourism ministers.
Many netizens were seen posting pictures and images of sweetcorn, some making direct reference to federal Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, while others made indirect references.
Among them were various versions of images of Malaysia’s iconic Petronas Twin Towers which have been photoshopped to look like two standing ears of corn.
A social media page belonging to former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee who is also the president of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) also carried a similar image.
The image shows the corn Twin Towers, which includes a rude hand gesture and a phrase in Bahasa Malaysia that said ‘Kalau Bukan Setahun Jagung Mana Ada Menara Petronas Kembar’ which translates into ‘Without the one-year corn, there would be no Petronas Twin Towers’.
Nazri has become the focus of the ire of Sarawakians, Sabahans and netizens for calling State Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah names due to their disagreement over the Tourism Tax Bill which was passed in the last parliamentary sitting and is to be enforced next month.
Abdul Karim argued that the introduction of the bill was against the spirit of Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the state had not been consulted. He thus asked for the implementation of the new tax to be deferred.
Nazri who did not take well to the objection, responded by calling Abdul Karim a ‘gangster’ and a greenhorn minister which in Bahasa Malaysia is ‘jagung setahun’, a term that literally means ‘year-old corn’.