Nga Kor Ming grilled as stepping foot into Pesta Kopi Ipoh is akin to “entering mini-China, HK, Taiwan”

 

THE rightist fraternity has hit out at Tourism Perak and Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming who was the VIP who graced the inaugural Pesta Ipoh Kopi Vibes 2026 for the event’s one-sided nature starting with failure to uphold the stature of Bahasa Malaysia (BM) as the national language.

Threader Khairunnisa Ar Alhan (@keon_alhan) lashed out at ‘project owner’ Tourism Perak for allowing the emcee “to use almost 100% Chinese (actually the Cantonese dialect) on the main stage”.

“I don’t mind if this being a Chinese community event. But this is a Tourism Perak (government agency) event. The national language must be prioritised. Or fine, bilingual if you want to be that way,” fumed the presumably local visitor.

“I felt like I was entering a territory of China. I just want to shout wo bu ming bai (‘I don’t understand’ in Mandarin).”

Her rant did not stop there.

Wow, that’s how it’s like @ngakorming.official, yeah. Fully Chinese language, right? … So don’t grumble when people curse that go back to mainland China for not knowing how to respect the national language.

Or not knowing how to respect other communities. If this is a community event, it’s fine. But this is a Tourism Perak tourism event. A (state) government event.

Editor’s Note: Organised by the Perak State EXCO Office for Tourism, Industry, Investment and Corridor Development and the Kinta Perak Vitality Association, Tourism Perak acts as the official strategic partner for the four-day event.

Staged at the Riverfront Old Town Ipoh, today (Sept 13) is the final day of the four-day event.

Perakians have right to query

Although Nga who is also the Teluk Intan MP claimed in his social media post that the event attracted visitors from various ethnic groups and backgrounds, including tourists from abroad who gathered to sip the famous Ipoh white coffee”, he was further chastised for “filling up the entire stage with Mandarin banners”.

“@ngakorming is acting as if Perak belongs to his father! Organising the Ipoh Coffee Fest 2026 using the government agency Tourism Perak yet the event is exclusively for his own community!” slammed AdamWich (@adamd4arwish).

“This is absolutely outrageous. If you were using your own father’s money, do whatever you want! But Tourism Perak uses public funds.”

Fellow Threader Sofea (@ain.sofea4) “just turned around and went home ” as she found herself out of place.

“I made it a point to attend the Ipoh Coffee Festival 2026 yesterday just because Tourism Perak was promoting it. But where were the Malay-owned cafés from Ipoh? It was mostly Chinese vendors.”

Superbiker Zainal (@mdzainal_nasir) insisted that Ipoh folks and Perakians have the right to query the staging of Pesta Ipoh Kopi 2026.

“It is not wrong to promote the culture of coffee and the heritage of the Chinese community. In fact, it is indeed a part of Ipoh’s history and identity,” justified the Lenggong resident.

But when it involves government programs and public funds, why is the promotional material and the main visual of this event seen to be so dominated by Chinese writing without the proper use of the Malay language?

Why is the overall representation of Ipoh’s community in participation and vendors not so visible? … Can @ngakorming please answer.

Well, first and foremost, Madani keyboard warrior Wan Abd Hadi Wan Abu Bakar clarified that Nga who is also the DAP deputy chairman delivered his speech in BM while “the emcee used a dual-language approach”.

“As to the claim that this event is exclusive to the Chinese community because of the massive display of Chinese writing, this is perhaps inevitable as many white coffee entrepreneurs themselves are of Chinese descent,” suggested the Pasir Mas Division PKR Youth head (2025-2028).

“Maybe we need to understand the difference between recognising the heritage of one community with organising a programme for one community. They’re two separate things.” –  Focus Malaysia