KUCHING: Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri today expressed disappointment that her statement regarding Muslim-friendly longhouse was being misinterpreted on social media.
The Federal Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture said there is no such thing as hidden agendas pertaining to the topic, including preaching as claimed by some netizens.
“I am truly disappointed that some people on social media had twisted my statement to the point that they accuse me of being racist,” she said when met by reporters today.
She said readers were not supposed to only read the headlines and instead read the overall article to understand its context in order for the message to not being misinterpreted.
“Trust me when I said this, it will cause a huge misunderstanding among most of us if we didn’t read the overall news. I would like to clarify that this Muslim-friendly programme is only for hotels, spa, massage centre and homestay.
“In the programme also, I did not mention longhouses because such declaration can only be given if owners have made the decision to make an application”.
She also stressed that through the declaration, any owners such as hotel owners, homestay owners could generate more income because visitors and tourist, especially from outside Malaysia will feel more confident and comfortable to use the service that they have provided.
“The statement that was spread on social media is malicious by the people who have bad intentions towards someone like me,” she said.
Earlier, a local media outlet published an article titled “Nancy: Motac to look into Muslim-friendly longhouse for tourism” on September 15 which sparked debate and argument among netizen on social media.
