Malaysia’s Tourism Minister is a “dimwit”

Updated 13.3.2007: Asked yesterday about the controversy, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan refused to confirm whether he had been quoted accurately by the newspaper.

‘I do not have anything to say right now,’ he said. (Associated Press).

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(Read inside: he calls us liars, cheat and a threat to national unity; he says we are uncompromising, not tolerant and can create civil war – taken from Elizabeth Wong’s blog).

That’s because he doesn’t know the power of women bloggers. Read clemfour and encircle by 6. Relish the poster by rikey.

And here’s an open letter to the “dimwit” :

Dear Mr. Adnan;

Your latest comment on Chinese daily Sin Chew is highly demeaning, for someone who holds the post of Tourism Minister.Your accusation that we, women bloggers are liars, cannot come at a more inappropriate time like this. The day you said this was International Women’s Day. If you don’t know what this day means to women all over the world, kindly look up this website.

Your second accusation – that we don’t like national unity – is not only slanderous but defamatory – because it is short of saying that we are a threat to national security. (pix: virtual malaysia)

It is short of saying that we are liable for treason.

As tourism minister, do you realise how many women bloggers actually blog about their travel overseas? Nila Tanzil is a case in point. And if you live up to your image of being a blogger + woman hater, I don’t see why women should blog nice things about you or your country.

One liar (or two) doesnt make all of us liars. Your generalisation has gone a bit too far. You are NOT fit to be Tourism Minister with this attitude. You are bias, rude, patronising and stupid.

But going by your analogy – of one makes all – I don’t blame foreigners for thinking that all of us are stupid or Malaysia bodoh.

You have set a bad example and I am not surprise if Malaysia fails in its Visit Malaysia 2007 project. With a Tourism Minister of your stature, it is sure to be a disaster.

Not all blogs are political. Millions, thousands are about life, food and travel. It is best you and your ministry court this group of human beings than declaring war with all and sundry.

You have no idea how powerful women are. They dont say ‘the hands that rock the cradle, rock the world’ for nothing. They also dont say “syurga di bawah tapak kaki ibu’ (heaven beneath your mother’s feet) for fun.

It’s just that some of us think you are too trivial or a dimwit to take notice of. But when we do make up our minds; you will have a hard time.

But do get this into your head. Women these days are different. We don’t merely sit around looking pretty. We work, take care of the family, write, blog, ask questions, analyse, create, invent, and a million other things. But there’s one thing we won’t do. We will not take this crap from you.

You talk about Malaysia coming a long way to achieve its 50 years independence.

We, too, have come a long way (it’s the 97th IWD this year), to know that the likes of you have no place in the kind of Malaysia we have envisioned for ourselves.

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Got this from Elizabeth Wong’s blog:

This is not a joke.

Malaysian Minister for Tourism, Tengku Adnan was reported by Sin Chew (9 March 07, Early Evening edition pp 5) to have said the following

(non-authoritative translation from Chinese to English, please feel free to improve/correct this, Mr J and Mr Tuna.):-

“Bloggers are liars. They use all sort of ways to cheat others. From what I know, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women.“Bloggers like to spread rumours, they don’t like national unity. Today our country has achievements because we are tolerant and compromising. Otherwise we will have civil war.“Malays will kill Chinese, Chinese will kill Malays, Indians will kill everybody else.”He asked people not to believe bloggers and gamble away Malaysia’s future because 50 years of Merdeka (Independence) takes a lot to achieve it.“We have to show to the people our positive attitude. If the world learns from us, there will peace and no civil war.

He said this in reaction to an Indonesian blogger/tv journalist, Nila Tanzil, who didn’t have many nice things to write about Malaysian bureaucracy while she was here shooting a travel show. But at least she was polite about in her blog. Her colleague was more honest.

Mr Minister. Did you realise Thursday was a quasi-sacred day for feminists and women’s rights activists? A most inappropriate time to be going around calling women liars, anti-national unity etc. etc.

And to be going after Nila when her partner was killed in the Yogya Garuda tragedy only yesterday? Don’t you even have a heart? Weren’t you taught manners and etiquette in school or at home?

Oh. I forgot. Umno (cut to scene:- unsheathe keris, wave in the air).

The end.

Updated:
Bloggers who normally write in Chinese caught wind of this and are up-in-arms.

See Smoothriver, and JerryWho has also translated the news article in full here, but not including Tengku Adnan’s rant about Bumitera in the last few paras.)

Sin Chew Online (Chinese) version here.