PETALING JAYA: A Turkish tour guide has apologised over a photograph of the minister of international trade and industry Azmin Ali in Turkey which surfaced online with a caption implying he had visited Hagia Sophia with his family.
Netizens had been up in arms over a suggestion that the cabinet minister had taken his family along on a holiday with him while Malaysians at home are left to suffer a worsening Covid-19 crisis.
The photograph, posted by a Turkish travel account @Turkishlocalguides about 15 hours ago was captioned “It was a pleasure to guide for Mr Muhammed Azmin Ali (Senior Minister of Malaysia). He was willing and patient to listen to stories of Hagia Sophia”.
The account administrator later clarified the posting, saying Azmin was there with a ministry delegation on a programme organised by the Turkish government.
The post has since been deleted, but netizens have been quick to share screenshots of the photograph and what they claimed to be the original caption, “It was a pleasure to guide for Mr Muhammed Azmin Ali (Senior Minister of Malaysia) and his family. He was willing and patient to listen to stories of Hagia Sophia.”
They contrasted that with the lockdowns now in place and restrictions on travel that have kept families from seeing each other.
Najib chimes in with sarcasm
Former prime minister Najib Razak was among those who joined the wave of criticism, sarcastically saying he had not been able to visit Hagia Sophia when he made a working trip to Istanbul in 2017.
He said in a Facebook posting that he was in Turkey for a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
“What a shame, I had no time to visit Hagia Sophia,” he said and asked Azmin to share some photographs. “I had no chance to visit, what can I do? As long as I get to see pictures, I’ll be happy,” he said in his jibe. - FMT
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