Guan Eng grilled for Rain Rave 2026 over-selling: “Is your RM200m claim legit or did you pluck it from the sky?”

 

SUCH was the fate of DAP advisor Lim Guan Eng for amplifying a RM200 mil and 180,000 attendees’ findings by the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (MITA) to the recently concluded Rain Rave Water Festival 2026 in Kuala Lumpur while taking a pot shot at the rightist fraternity for their fierce opposition to the event.

“Extremists in BN (Barisan Nasional), UMNO, PN (Perikatan Nasional) and PAS should be ashamed of themselves for trying to inflame and divide the public by opposing the successful tourism event,” he vehemently declared in a Facebook post.

There were no untoward incidents during the three-day festival, nobody was hurt and the event proceeded safely and happily.

Are BN, UMNO, PN and PAS blind to such successes that have benefited both the country and the rakyat?

While such extremist antics by opposition parties are expected, it is disappointing that UMNO and BN – despite being in the unity government – have adopted a similar hard line together with PN and PAS.

Editor’s Note: The MITA statement citing its president Mint Leong further noted that the event held from April 30 to May 2 also recorded 1.4 billion clicks across global social media platforms but Leong did not state where the data came from.

Except for one enthusiast who lauded the effort of Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing for bulldozing through the barrage of criticism to realise the event, Guan Eng’s FB post was swamped by detractors who played down the tourist receipt as “self-claim”.

This is especially so as they demanded veracity as to how was the RM200 mil derived from and what was the basis of calculation or formula that was applied.

“Is the number the same with or without the  festival or was the number picked from the sky? Did the 180K attendees contribute directly to the event with an average expense of RM1.1K/pax?” asked one commenter who seemingly possesses some statistical sense.

Editor’s Note: Coincidence or otherwise, MITA’s claim of RM200 mil in tourism revenue over a three-day period runs parallel with that of Chinese leadership site Top Leader 领袖 except that the latter expected a much lower turnout of 80,000.

Compared to MITA’s claim, that of Top Leader 领袖 did include a breakdown of potential revenue sources, ie on-site expenditure (food, transportation, shopping), hotels, income from micro/small traders, integrated event across seven states and contribution to the airline industry.

Elsewhere, Guan Eng who is also the four-term Bagan MP was also reminded of the social contract, in particular the honouring of Islam as Malaysia’s official religion.

Islam doesn’t prohibit non-Muslims from having fun. But in the land you live in, the official religion is Islam as stated in the social contract,” lectured one commenter.

So organising this festival contradicts the purity of Islam which is the official religion of the country. We Muslims do not worship money and wealth like most people of your religion.

We Muslims want to avoid social excesses that can damage the morals and future of future generations.

It’s OK if the festival has been organised. But there needs to be a post-mortem whereby we also need to include the impact on the image of Islam as the official religion of our country.

In the future, we need a better plan to prioritise the importance of the image of Islam as the official religion. This past festival looks very bad in terms of image.

Last but certainly not the least, Guan Eng was also mocked for omitting the Bahasa Malaysia version in his bilingual FB post which comprised only English and Mandarin, an insinuation that his message is targeted at the non-Malay audience. 

- focus malaysia