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Malaysia crabby over right to 'hijacked' recipes
The Associated Press , Kuala Lumpur | Thu, 09/17/2009 6:37 PM | World
Malaysia is starting a food fight with other countries to win bragging rights for producing some of Southeast Asia's most beloved recipes, including chili crabs and coconut cream rice, a news report said Thursday.
"We cannot continue to let other countries hijack our food," The Star newspaper quoted Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen as saying while launching a campaign to promote the country's cuisine.
The ministry is identifying signature recipes that it will declare as Malaysian, Ng said. She did not reveal how the government might counter others who claim ownership of those dishes, but added that details of its strategy will be announced later.
"Chili crab is Malaysian. Hainanese chicken rice is Malaysian. We have to lay claim to our food," Ng said. She mentioned other favorites such as "nasi lemak," which is rice soaked with coconut cream, "laksa," a spicy noodle soup, and "bak kut teh," an ethnic Chinese pork rib stew.
Tourism ministry officials familiar with the campaign could not immediately be contacted.
Variations of the dishes Ng listed are available in several other Asian nations, particularly Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand and China.
Some creations, such as chicken rice, were introduced to Malaysia and Singapore by ethnic Chinese workers who settled here after leaving China a century ago.
Chili crab - a recipe of crabs stir-fried in tomato and chili-based sauces - could become a bone of contention. It is often associated with Singapore and is considered the city-state's unofficial national dish.
Malaysia was recently embroiled in another cultural spat with a neighbor.
Indonesians held protests earlier this month accusing Malaysia of stealing a Balinese dance for a TV promotional campaign about Malaysia. It later turned out that Malaysia had nothing to do with the video, which had mistakenly described the dance as Malaysian. The video was broadcast on the Discovery Channel cable network, which apologized for the mistake.
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Honest John (not verified), Bali — Sat, 09/26/2009 - 8:19pm
Why does the Jakarta Post not have a moderator to prevent racist rants like that below being posted? Such a posting is clearly designed to incite racial hatred, so why would the Post want to facilitate its dissemination?...... " Chinee (not verified), chinee land — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 1:55am the problem with chinks..koreans.. is that..too often they think they are one with the coolness... but they forgot to look in the mirror. again..i cannot stand chinese hawaiians (unless youre actually mixed with HAWAIIAN..not haole) or japanese brazilians (UNLESS YOURE MIXED)...surfer chinese really annoy me. In malaysia..these chinks think thye have the right to claim malay dishes as their own. its NOT a malaysian dish..you chink. its a MALAY dish. you goddamn chink. go back to china and argue about china food you goddamn ugly chink."Mohammed Fared (not verified), Kuala Lumpur — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 6:45pm
Dear All, Read between the lines. It's not food fight. It's a message, that's what happen when you start limiting things within your national boundaries. People moved, travelled & settled down hundreds of years ago. Now, doesn't it sound ridiculous to your ears? Bapak/ibu, bukankah kita ini dari golongan Melayu Nusantara. Pastinya kita sedikit sebanyak berkongsi budaya. Satu rumpun, satu Nabi, satu Tuhan. Seharusnya kita saling bantu-membantu untuk memajukan bangsa & agama kita. Bukankah itu yang sebaiknya & dituntut oleh agama?Bambina (not verified), bali — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 10:56am
oh my goodness.... is the minister stupid or what? is she seriously bringing up this issue?? food is supposed to be enjoyed. ANYONE can cook and eat whatever they want. claiming those food as theirs is just plain stupid. so, what if people in other country cook one of those "Malaysian food"? are you going to arrest them? stop making such a big unimportant fuss.....YellowTrolley (not verified), Melbourne — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 10:33am
? I thought Hainanese Chicken Rice was from the island of Hainan - off the Chinese coast ? Wikipedia said so too. I'm confused.Hiro Nakamura (not verified), Jmb — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 7:14am
As a malay nation,both INA and MAS share the same characters: sensitive, emotional & racist. Just take a look on how they summoning a comment. Thus, malaysian's claim that they are more advanced than indonesian is VOID. That both INA & MAS deserve to claim great malay culture is also VOID (after hearing mr.minister's plan). To malaysian, why bother argumenting who is entitled to claim great malay culture if you're gettin upset when your cuisine (which i think it belongs to great malay nation too) is practised by others? Several weeks ago i heard about malaysian's effort to declare them selves as "the great malay nation mother". What an ambitious effort that i hardly understand?! (since they often make statement that their ancestor comes from Indonesian archipelago). Now i can understand why is it tough for Indonesian to be your brother/neighborhood.Chinee (not verified), chinee land — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 1:55am
the problem with chinks..koreans.. is that..too often they think they are one with the coolness... but they forgot to look in the mirror. again..i cannot stand chinese hawaiians (unless youre actually mixed with HAWAIIAN..not haole) or japanese brazilians (UNLESS YOURE MIXED)...surfer chinese really annoy me. In malaysia..these chinks think thye have the right to claim malay dishes as their own. its NOT a malaysian dish..you chink. its a MALAY dish. you goddamn chink. go back to china and argue about china food you goddamn ugly chink.Chinee (not verified), chinee land — Thu, 09/24/2009 - 1:54am
the problem with chinks..koreans.. is that..too often they think they are one with the coolness... but they forgot to look in the mirror. again..i cannot stand chinese hawaiians (unless youre actually mixed with HAWAIIAN..not haole) or japanese brazilians (UNLESS YOURE MIXED)...surfer chinese really annoy me. In malaysia..these chinks think thye have the right to claim malay dishes as their own. its NOT a malaysian dish..you chink. its a MALAY dish. you goddamn chink. go back to china and argue about china food you goddamn ugly chink.Arie Susanto (not verified), Jakarta — Wed, 09/23/2009 - 7:56pm
Reminds me of my 7 year old daughter's classmate who stole my daughter's drawings from Facebook and re-publish it again on her own facebook as "hers". Malaysia please grow up!PH (not verified), Jakarta — Wed, 09/23/2009 - 10:26am
Malaysiaa.. thief of Asia... (sing it like their tourism adv campaign)gombui bin Jalak (not verified), Borneo — Wed, 09/23/2009 - 8:06am
Hey brother, come to Malaysia. Enjoy those foods. Not limited to chicken rice. You will find thousand menu ranging from local siizzling curry to western pizza. In addition to it you can enjoy eating your lunch with bosou, daat, jaruk bambangan and other unpublished menu.