There were WhatsApp messages circulating around that alleged the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing consumed pork and alcohol in his office. It was so widespread to the point that on the 6th of January 2023, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing had to come out and deny that he consumed pork and alcohol in his office.
First of all, where is the evidence that he consumed pork and alcohol in his office? Is there a picture or video of him doing so? All these accusations are baseless. If he truly did, would the witness kindly come forth with testimony and photographic evidence of him doing the act? Anyone can assert anything but the question is, can they back it up? Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing had to come up with a statement to put a stop to this slander but he didn't need to do so as the late Christopher Hitchens once said, “that which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence as well (see Hitchens' razor)”; it is not for a defendant (in this case, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing) to disprove an unproven allegation but rather for the claimant (the person who alleged Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing eat pork in his office) to produce enough evidence to support its allegation.
Not only that, even if he did eat pork in his office, who cares? He isn't a Muslim so it is okay for him to consume pork. Furthermore, if he packs his lunch (or ‘tapao’) to the office and it contains pork, who are you to deny his right to do so? Is there any law that says he can't consume pork in his OWN office? Why are we politicizing what an individual has for lunch? If he invited his Muslim colleagues to indulge in pork with him, that would have been a different story but he didn't.
Plus, I don't care what he has for lunch as long as he produces results. He could eat a horse, a camel or even a snake and I still wouldn't care as long as the tourism sector is booming as it shows he and his ministry are doing their job. After Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing assumed office in December 2022, Malaysia recorded 26 million foreign visitors in 2023 (the following year) which is the highest in the Southeast Asia region. We beat Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and even Thailand in terms of international tourist arrivals for the year 2023. Judging from this, we can safely say that the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture and his staff are doing their job.
It would be interesting to see how the ministry deals with an anticipated influx of tourists from China and India since Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced 30-day visa exemptions for travelers from China and India which took effect from 1st of December 2023. Would the ministry be able to uphold and maintain our high standards of tourism quality? What measures would they implement to encourage tourists to visit Malaysia? These are all matters relevant to the performance of the ministry; let us judge the performance of the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister and his ministry based on this and not on what he has for lunch.
Aaron Colt is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
