Bak kut teh - storm over a soup

I agree with Umno Youth. Yes, it was “wrong” to recognise bak kut teh (BKT) as a national heritage.

This is because our “true” national cuisine is not BKT but “makan rasuah” (literally eating bribes).

OK, that's just a joke la. Let's return to the news. On Feb 29, Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh called for Tourism Minister Tiong King Sing to be sacked because BKT has been included as a heritage food.

But wait a minute. It was the commissioner of heritage Mohamad Muda Bahadin who listed BKT and nine other dishes as national heritage on Feb 24.

Why didn't Akmal also call for him to be punished? Why did he only slam Tiong? Was it because a Malay official was inconvenient for the racial flame game?

The whole saga began in June when Tebrau MP Jimmy Puah asked in Parliament whether the Tourism Ministry was taking steps to recognise various Malaysian foods, including BKT, to forestall Singapore from claiming them.

Hulu Terengganu MP Rosol Wahid of Bersatu also objected to BKT because it's non-halal.

But nobody was asking Muslims to eat it. Just for it to be officially recognised before other countries “steal” it. The real question is, must all national heritage be halal?

If such racial supremacy or ketuanan (supremacy) views are accepted, then logically Chinese and Indian temples plus churches cannot be part of Malaysian culture.

Heck, people like Akmal and Rosol should next insist that our famous tourism slogan must be changed from “Malaysia Truly Asia” to “Malaysia Truly Malay”.

Cultural arrogance was also on full display when Akmal said that nasi goreng Cina (Chinese fried rice) should be a national heritage, not BKT.

Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh

He completely misses the point. Firstly, there is nothing special about Chinese fried rice, which is found worldwide. Whereas BKT is a unique Malaysian invention.

Secondly, how would Malays feel if a Chinese politician told them which of their foods can or cannot be honoured?

Bersatu’s Langkawi MP Suhaimi Mohd Abdullah used a more indirect method, saying that BKT is not among the 10 most popular Malaysian traditional food items.

But hello, jeruk tuhau, a pickled wild ginger from Sabah, was also one of the 10 heritage foods recognised recently. I doubt many people have even heard of it, let alone eaten it.

Halal BKT and bakso

Moreover, as Tiong pointed out, “bak” just means “meat” in Hokkien. So bak kut teh literally translates as “meat bone soup”.

Yes, it originated as a pork soup but there are halal versions of BKT made from chicken, mutton, or seafood.

One that has gone viral since this controversy is the beef BKT sold by the Anak Bapak Muslim Restaurant in Singapore.

Bakso (literally “meatballs”) has a similar story. As its name implies, it has a Chinese origin. But it has become a common Indonesian street food made with chicken and beef.

But pork bakso can still be found in Bali, which has a mainly Hindu population.

Indonesian bakpia (literally “meat pastry”) is another example. It originated from the Chinese who filled it with pork. But it became more popular in the 1940s as producers switched the filling to sweet mung bean paste, allowing Muslims to enjoy it.

It's now a must-buy souvenir if you visit Jogjakarta. A more accurate name for bakpia should be tausar pia like the ones in Penang, but the original name has stuck.

Perhaps some people are simply allergic to the name BKT. OK, then let's just rebrand it as soto, the Indonesian meat soup. To localise it, we can call it “soto Cina Klang”. No longer "sensitive" la…

Let's celebrate diversity

Cross cultural fertilisation enriches any country. For example, Italian food, one of the world's top cuisines, has diverse influences including Etruscan, Roman, Visigoth, Byzantine, Arab, and Norman.

In Malaysia, Muslims nowadays enjoy halal dim sum and pao, even though these were long associated with pork in the past. On the flip side, non-Muslims make porky versions of satay, nasi lemak, and even nasi kandar.

All that is a tribute to our multicultural society. We’ve been exchanging recipes for centuries.

This is the real meaning of the slogan on our coat of arms – “Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu”, literally “working together improves quality” or “unity is strength”.

Tiong said his ministry aims to incorporate culture from different ethnic groups in Malaysia so that foreigners can learn more about our rich heritage.

Yes, that's the way to boost tourism.

I am an adventurous foodie and have eaten sago worms in Sarawak and hinava (raw fish salad) in Sabah. Now that jeruk tuhau has been listed as a national heritage, I am keen to try it. Hopefully, Muslims will want to try halal BKT too.

Hidden agendas?

Umno politicians have long been using others as a racial punching bag to gain popularity, power, and money.

But the old racial recipe failed in the last election and the once almighty party is now down to a mere 26 of 222 seats in Parliament. It has to depend on allies such as Pakatan Harapan and GPS to remain in government.

Apart from BKT, Akmal also attacked Nga Kor Ming’s proposal for Chinese new villages to seek Unesco world heritage status.

Why the loud public assaults when such sensitive matters can be easily discussed within official channels? Will Akmal's racial ruckus revive Umno? Or is there a hidden agenda?

In 2022, Akmal implied that Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was a “political dinosaur”.

And during the Umno general assembly last year, there were murmurs that he was “boycotting” Zahid.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

Malay politics is well known for hidden “wayang kulit” (shadow puppet) moves. So are Akmal’s attacks on Chinese ministers Tiong and Nga actually designed to whack Zahid? And maybe to bring down the unity government?

If Akmal is really concerned about the problems of poor Malays, he should instead address the root causes.

These include Felda working with contractors who allegedly cheat Malay oil palm farmers. And the huge oversupply of foreign workers which pushes down wages for B40 Malays. Yet the latter continues because certain agencies have lucrative “cables” with some officials to bring in workers.

Akmal, and sadly Harapan leaders too, are silent on such issues. Instead, it's left to Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj of PSM to raise them.

In conclusion, the BKT brouhaha is a storm over a soup, a huge waste of national time and energy. Has it been cooked up by politicians trying to score points with small side issues?

Such people should focus on fighting our real problems like “makan rasuah". Unless they believe this “cuisine” is our real “national heritage”. - Mkini

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ANDREW SIA is a veteran journalist who likes teh tarik khau kurang manis. You are welcome to give him ideas to brew at tehtarik@gmail.com.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.