Food festival not in line with 1Malaysia concept, says A-G report

The Fabulous Food 1Malaysia (FF1M) event organised by the Tourism and Culture Ministry was found to be not in line with the 1Malaysia concept and may touch the sensitivities of the country's multi-racial community.

The 3rd series of the 2013 Auditor-General's Report revealed that the event introduced in 2000 was not balanced in terms of racial participation, with certain races dominating the event and menu did not represent local fare.

The report tabled in Dewan Rakyat mentioned that a variety of food was sold including exotic and non-halal items, and stalls selling such food was not separated but was instead set next to stalls offering halal food.

"Malaysia is made up of different ethnicities and religions and the main purpose of this event is to attract visitors from all walks of life.

"The contents of this event must be mindful of religious sensitivities, ethnicities which represent Malaysian culture as well as respect all religions in order to ensure harmony," the report said.

However, the ministry has taken initiative to rectify this on September 8 by fixing three locations to promote food in Kuala Lumpur, namely Kampung Baru for Malay food, Jalan Alor for Chinese food and Brickfields for Indian food.

Proper labelling was also done for non-halal food and visitors had no complaints.

Besides that, the report stated that overall, the ministry had successfully achieved its Key Performance Index (KPI) and attracted tourists, especially locals. – Bernama