KUCHING: Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has advised Malaysians to be open minded as his ministry will look into the possibility of including ‘Bak Kut Teh’ as one of the country’s heritage food.
Tiong explained that ‘Bak Kut Teh” was essentially an herbal dish that had evolved over time, moving beyond its traditional pork-based preparation.
Following its popularity, he said the dish now came in various versions, including Chicken, Seafood and Mutton ‘Bak Kut Teh’.
“We must be open minded. We can’t just jump to conclusions and assume this is halal or not. If we were to include it into the list of heritage food, we will let the international (community) taste it and decide.
“I’m going to tell my ministry to look into it seriously,” said Tiong when asked by the media to comment on his deputy Khairul Firdaus’ response in including the dish as a heritage food in the question-and-answer (Q&A) session in Parliament in a video shared on the former’s Facebook page today (June 15).
Earlier, Langkawi MP Datuk Suhaimi Abdullah had questioned in Parliament whether ‘Bak Kut Teh’ should be included as it was not featured in Malaysia’s 10 most popular traditional food, following Tebrau MP Jimmy Puah’s question on the government’s efforts to elevate traditional food of Malaysians, such as ‘Nasi Lemak’, ‘Bak Kut Teh’ and ‘Laksa’.
Khairul then agreed with the Langkawi MP’s point of view in which he said for a dish to be termed as a national heritage food, everyone should be able to consume it.
However, he also pointed out that there were variations of the dish which could be savoured by all Malaysians.
