Nanta: KPDNHEP to meet ‘Timah’ makers to see if product has MyIPO certification

KUCHING: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) will meet with the company manufacturing the award-winning ‘Timah’ whiskey brand following the recent controversy over the product’s name and labeling.

Its minister Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi said the authorities are looking into whether the company had registered the product with the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO).

“KPDNHEP will arrange a meeting with the manufacturer to discuss the matter,” he told a press conference during a media luncheon here yesterday.

The controversy over the name of the Malaysian-manufactured whiskey, which has won international awards in London and San Francisco, began several days ago when the Consumer Association of Penang (CAP) called on the government to ban Timah.

It said the person depicted on the label resembled a religious man wearing a skullcap, and that ‘Timah’ was an insult to the Muslim community as it resembled the shortened name ‘Fatimah’.

The company has explained the man on the label is British colonial officer Captain Tristram Speedy who played a key role in ending the Larut War, while ‘Timah’ – Malay for tin – is in reference to the Malayan tin mining era during the British colonial days.

Joining the chorus calling for action against the manufacturer was the Penang Mufti as well as PAS lawmakers, who urged the federal government to probe the matter.

Meanwhile, it was reported that civil society groups Centre for a Better Tomorrow and the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall have called on critics and politicians not to turn the issue into a racial or religious controversy just as the Melaka state election is heating up.

The groups said the people need to analyse the brand’s registered trademark from a legal standpoint and whether or not it complied with the laws of the country, and not blow a “nonissue” out of proportion.