We all know that there is some rivalry between Malaysia and Singapore when it comes to food.
Who has the best nasi lemak (rice cooked in coconut milk)? Who has the better bak kut teh (meat in bone soup)?
While you may joke with your Malaysian friends and crack jokes about whose food culture is better, a Malaysian entertainer based in Taiwan may have taken things too far.
The Malaysian, who went on a variety show in Taiwan, accused Singapore of “stealing” the food from Malaysia.
The use of such strong words made waves on the internet, of course.
Here is more about what the Malaysian said in his controversial segment.
Malaysian Entertainer in Taiwan Says That Singapore “Stole” Malaysia’s Food Culture
About two days ago, the YouTube channel “Tong Xue Lai Le” or “Students Coming” released a short ten-minute clip outlining the rivalry between Singapore and Malaysia.
The clip touched on a few things, including how Singapore’s food culture was “stolen” from Malaysia.
How did a Taiwanese variety show end up touching on such potentially sensitive topics for entertainment?
The root cause was a guest on the show, Zu Xiong, who is a Malaysian entertainer based in Taiwan.
During a segment of the variety show, he flamed Singapore on several fronts.
According to Zu Xiong, Singapore has “no culture”, “no places of interest”, and is “super boring”. He stuck a placard outlining these criticisms on Huang Jinglun, who also made a guest appearance on the show.
For those unaware, Huang Jinglun is a Singaporean artist based in Taiwan.
Apart from Huang Jinglun, Lin Lifei, another entertainer hailing from Singapore, was present for the panel discussion about the rivalry between countries.
Here Are the Dishes He Named
Let’s start with the food part of things.
During the short segment, Zu name-dropped dishes such as chicken rice, char kway teow, bak kut teh as some of the “stolen” dishes from Malaysia.
When guests on the show mentioned local staples such as barley drinks and pandan cake, Zu also patriotically claimed that they existed in Malaysia pre-separation and were, in a way, taken over by Singapore.
Throughout this exchange, the representatives from Singapore looked awkward but tried to deflect these criticisms by saying that the two countries had “cultural exchanges” for food.
Thankfully, the variety show included a segment for the hosts to try the different types of bak kut teh to understand the differences between each country’s food options.
On top of flaming the lack of “original local food” in Singapore, Zu also insinuated that Singapore was boring and that a three-day, two-night trip would suffice.
He claimed that a four-day and three-night trip would be too long.
To illustrate his point, Zu called the famed Rain Vortex in Jewel a man-made foundation and said that our Sentosa’s Siloso beach was also man-made.
While there may be some truth to these claims, perhaps he went a little too far in trying to be humorous.
What do you think? Is this a casual jest, or did Zu burn some bridges?