Dr Dzulkefly's Deepavali greeting in Tamil makes waves, advises reducing sugar

PETALING JAYA: The Health Minister has made waves by speaking in Tamil for his Deepavali greeting.

"Vanakkam, I'm Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, your health minister," he said in Tamil, as he started the greeting.

The 25 second video, which was produced by the Health Ministry's corporate communications unit, was posted on the ministry's official Facebook page.

At the time of writing, the greeting was viewed over 3,500 times, and Liked over 150 times.

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Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad ended the greeting by saying, "Malaysiavil irikum aṉaittu intiyarkaḷ enathiya inaya Deepavali Valthukkal (To all Malaysian Hindus, my best wishes for Deepavali)."

As he wished all Hindus in Malaysia a Happy Deepavali, he also advised the public to reduce eating sweet food during this festive season.

People applauded Dr Dzulkefly's ability to speak in Tamil in the video clip.

"Impressive!" wrote Eunice Tiew in the comments.

Nourleez Abdullah and June Jongchaijun both wrote "Terbaik" (Very good)

The video has been seen making rounds in WhatsApp groups as well.

The government has advised the public to live a healthier lifestyle if it intends to get rid of the "fattest in South East Asia" title.

Economist Intelligence Unit’s “Tackling Obesity in Asean” report noted that Malaysia’s prevalence of obesity is at 13.3%, which is the highest in South-East Asia.

In the Budget 2019 announcement, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the government will introduce an excise duty of 40 sen per litre on two categories of packaged sugary drinks starting April 1, next year.

These include beverages containing sugar or other sweeteners exceeding 5g per 100ml; and fruit and vegetable juices with more than 12g of sugar per 100ml.- Star