District officer denies naming stadium after himself, claims it's Spanish or Greek

 

Padang Terap district officer Hakim Ariff Md Noor has denied naming a local stadium in Kedah after himself.

This came after it was pointed out that the mini stadium's name, "Ffira Mikah", is Hakim Ariff's name in reverse.

Instead, he claimed that the mini stadium's rebranded name was a combination of Arabic and Spanish or Greek.

"It has nothing to do with my name. It has implicit meaning. It was proposed during the administrative meeting.

"In Spanish or Greek, ffira means something great whereas mikah in Arabic means angel, he was quoted a saying by Sinar Harian.

Google does not recognise the word ffira as Spanish or Greek. It auto-detects the word as Bulgarian and carries the meaning "wastage".

Hakim said the stadium was renamed after it was upgraded and underwent a rebranding exercise.

"I"m not looking for glamour. My wish is for Padang Terap to become clean, beautiful and cheerful.

"I don't want this district to be like in the past, people do not know the true story and are making assumptions," he added.

Prior to the RM200,000 upgrade, Hakim said the stadium was in a bad condition.

Meanwhile, the KN Kiara Football Club which manages the stadium said it has taken down the signage of the stadium's new name.

It added in a Facebook statement that the name "Ffira Mikah" will no longer be used on any promotional material.

For the time being, it added, the stadium will be referred to as "Kuala Nerang Mini Stadium" until it received further instructions from the local council.

 - Mkini