Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Malaysia Tourism Board, Disappointing


Malaysia Tourism Board invited over 190 journalists from all over the world to witness the opening of Floral Festival 2007, which was part of the Visit Malaysia 2007 program.

From Indonesia, 17 journalists from 10 media – 7 printed media, 3 tv stations -- followed the 5 days trip in Malaysia (Jan 25th to 30th). I got a chance to represent SCTV to go there together with Anca Leksmana (producer) and Bambang Triyono (cameraman). Being invited by the Malaysia Tourism Board, I had a high expectation that it would be a fun and easy trip, in the sense of we would get easy access to explore interesting places in the country.
However, it surprised me that in most of the places written on the itinerary, we couldn’t shoot anything! Actually, when we just arrived at the hotel, the first thing I asked to the Senior Tourism Officer of Malaysia Tourism Board was a simple letter stating that they invited SCTV to come to promote the country for Visit Malaysia 2007, in case we needed it. But, to write such letter, the officer said that they needed two weeks time! Geezz.. Why does it take so long to write a simple letter? I understand bureaucracy might be complicated, but couldn’t they make it simpler to ease the work of the journalists?

So, we were there for 6 days, had an itinerary on hands that looks fabulous from outside but useless. For example, there was a shopping tour program for 5 hours in 2 shopping malls and IKEA. But then, in these malls, it was forbidden to shoot anything. As journalists who work for a TV station, what’s the point going there if we couldn’t record anything? We came to Malaysia to work, not for holidays. We are not tourists.

Another small example, we were scheduled to have lunch at a revolving restaurant at KL Tower. We also couldn’t shoot there and the manager even had no idea that a TV station from Indonesia would come. Being in KL Tower, the 4th tallest tower in the world, it would be such a waste if we couldn’t shoot some scenes from the top of the tower. So, we contacted the PR of KL Tower by ourselves. I got her number from a French journalist who works in KL. We got a good response from her as she realized that it would be a good exposure for KL Tower. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and it was such a short notice. She could only assign a customer service to take us to see the facilities that they have and shoot there. If we contacted her earlier (on the workdays), then she could have arrange a tour to the top of the tower, which is not a public area. Wouldn’t it be amazing?

She wanted the Tourism Board to contact her to confirm that it was true SCTV came on behalf of their invitation. So, we asked the representative of the board to call her. Apparently, she already contacted the Tourism Board in KL herself. And this caused a little bit of a crisis in the board (Malaysia and Indonesia offices). The representative of the board from Indonesia who brought us there, called us up saying that her boss was angry at her and now she looked so stupid and unprofessional in doing her job. So, she warned us not to contact any parties directly in the future. Oh great! Being journalists on a TV station, our job is to get a good picture and produce a good show. If the board didn’t do their homework in arranging permit to shoot in any places, then as journalists, it was our instinct to contact the party directly. Especially, when we could get direct access to the party (journos always know how to get direct access, right? ;))

Being a PR myself, I couldn’t believe how the Malaysia Tourism Board didn’t understand what the media needed. A TV station doesn’t need to go to IKEA and eat at a fancy restaurant if they couldn’t get any story (and picture) out of it. Plus, there are so many nice places in Malaysia that actually we could explore for 5 days, apart from staying in Kuala Lumpur only! Too bad the board didn’t allow us to go outside KL (only to Genting Highlands and Putrajaya). They should’ve created a program highlighting the best spots in the country and most importantly, arranged a permit in each of the places so that we could shoot there freely.

Plus, we got a tour guide that had no experience in guiding the media. She made our days even harder as she always forbids us to shoot here and there, even in Petaling Street (China Town)! Ckckck.. (but we tried to convince her that it was ok to shoot there and if anything bad happens , we wouldn’t blame her. Oyeah, we also managed to drag her to take us to Batu Caves Temple after the Genting Highlands trip. Batu Caves wasn't included in the itinerary, but we had to go there, otherwise we wouldn't have enough images/stories for the show due to all the limitations)

So, 5 days in KL, we felt frustrated. Frustated by the board and… by the tour guide! Hopefully, next year the board does their homework well and knows the needs of each type of the media. If not, it would be such a waste to invite many journos from all over the world if they couldn’t maximize their work during their stay there.

Now you know how frustated we were when filming the show. This is a behind the screen story ;). The "Melancong Yuk" Malaysia episodes will be aired on Saturday, 3 February and Sunday, 4 February at 6.30am in SCTV.
It will be 2 different episodes, full of hard work and lots of candid shots. So, make sure you watch both of them! ;)

69 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Maverick

So sorry that you had to go through so much hassle, and on an invited trip too. I think I could have done a better job taking you around.

But don't let this experience get you down. The country has much to offer compared to the clumsy efforts of the so-called tourism officials who spend tax-payers' money with absolutely no planning. What a shame!

nila tanzil said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
nila tanzil said...

Hi bayi,

I'm sure that the country has much to offer than what we've got when we were filming there.
Would love to go to see more of Malaysia next time, especially to Langkawi and other nice places in the country!

Hopefully, next time I could see more interesting spots of Malaysia :)

Anonymous said...

my point of view is here.

Anonymous said...

bravo, nila!
what the world need is honesty... We have already had too much of some bombastic ideas which real feedback cannot be broadcasted or written in any media for commercial and political reason.

I'm not from media industry, so just say I am their "customer". Nowadays I have a very skeptical view of what is provided to us, as their customer. We are provided what THEY THINK the majority of the customer want to see or hear, and now unfortunately we are at the point of there is nothing new anymore. We are created to be typical species.

Thanks to blogosphere and people like you who can give us the real feedback of what is behind what's given.

Keep it up! Don't stop to speak up because we deserve the truth. That is what a reporter all about: to report.

Anonymous said...

This is the sad but true fact of Malaysia- it's people are fun and the country is beautiful, sadly its governance is really sickening.

Sigh!

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

hi nila,

i am so sorry you had to go through such a bad experience. On behalf of many Malaysians, I would like to extend our apology for the dreadful time you had here.

i hope the experience has not put you off coming here again.

take care.

Anonymous said...

Dear maverick!

Thank you for creating a big fuss with your blog! And now your comments are even reported in the The Star, a major English newspaper in M'sia.

It shall wake the incompetent officers in the department. And hope they will seriously rethink the work to be done before they even invite a media team over.

Great comments and do give your suggestions to these guys ! They need all the help and comments to improve. And to the staff who prohibited you from talking to others, if they had done their job, you wouldn't bother right?

Take care.
From a concerned malaysian citizen

Anonymous said...

Hi
I'm a Western journalist assigned to cover Malaysia.
I have to tel you that while other countries spend millions to get good coverage - Malaysia simply assigns the most unbelievable surly idiots to piss off foreign journalists as much as possible so they get the worst coverage possible.
Once you've covered the place for a while you just dread picking up the phone to some idiot who's been made ministerial press officer only because he's the minister's auntie's nephew - and once read a newspaper (but only once!)
There are plenty of good things about Malaysia but frankly it's the bad things that get covered because when you ask for help with the good things you get treated with contempt.
The reason? Malaysian journalists' balls (with a few exceptions) are owned by the government and kept locked in a cupboard somewhere in Putrajaya so Malaysian officials don't get journalists from countries where they think for themselves and write / broadcast what they think.
And despite the foreign press corps telling the Malaysian government over and over again that it needs to get its shit together and have a professional press operation it never does.
Well to hell with them - Malaysia's government is its own worst enemy and frankly it works hard to earn every bad report it generates.

Anonymous said...

Hi Nila,

As a Malaysian-Chinese, i felt so sorry for your team treatment during Visit Malaysia period..
Malaysia is a nice, beautiful places and had a lot of undiscover area which not really get serious attention from public yet..the natural environment...Hope you can visit malaysia again, ya! Welcome!

Anonymous said...

Hi Nila,

From an ordinary Malaysian and man on the street.We are sorry for what you went through.

Anonymous said...

I am sorry that u got a bad impression about Malaysia when u were here. My country is a nice place and it's people are freindly and warm. Hope u will consider visiting Malaysia again.

Mohd Nor Abdul Manaf
Chairman,
Mohd Nor & Partners Group of Companies

Anonymous said...

Hiii,

On behalf of my friends in the Ministry, we are sorry for the hassle and we take your comment seriously.

tq.

-a small director-

nila tanzil said...

to ndorokakung: thank you, Ndoro :)

to Nadia: thanks, Nadia. Will keep on writing.

to the man who sold the world: I can see that Malaysia is a beautiful country :)

to nuraina a samad: for sure my experience will not put me off for coming to your country again. thanks for dropping by.

nila tanzil said...

to a concerned malaysian citizen: thanks for your comment. it's very encouraging. hope that this post can be treated as an input to the related institution.

nila tanzil said...

to a Western journalist: as you said, there are plenty of good things about Malaysia and it's such a pity if people can't see it in the end :(

to a Malaysian-Chinese: yup, i hope that I can visit Malaysia again sometime soon! :)

to an ordinary Malaysian: thank you so much for your concern... I really appreciate it.

nila tanzil said...

to mohd nor abdul manaf: I'm sure that your country is a nice place and its people are friendly and warm :). Don't worry, I will consider visiting your country again.

nila tanzil said...

To a small director: It's such an honor for me to have you here. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

Hahah make me laugh wen read all the blogger comments,coz feed only one side of nila story,The truth hidden inside n only certain people know the whole story.Well done nila.

Unknown said...

Hi Maverick,

I feel sorry that you have to experience such unconvenient incident. But dispite of your big complain I see that you still have a big smile of yours on the 2 pictures in this page.

So I believe you still enjoy the trip that you have and I bet there is a reasonable explaination to be given to you. Because as far as I know every Governemnt have a specific agenda and purposes for media fam trip. Its only about communication you need to express specifically before you enter the country as every place have different rule to applied.

Which I believe that you and your group was invited to cover specifically about Putrajaya Floral Festival. While for the rest of the program is for your to enjoy as a tourist in our country.

But again, we see that additional purpose for the rest of the program is successed as you can give us 2 beautiful smile to give us.

aLit said...

hi anonymous, would you care to share the 'hidden part' of the whole story?

Anonymous said...

Hi All, that is tradition melayu style, everything slow, need permission, please ok, learn with Singapore, compare with singapore and other country, this cannot and that cannot, how to promote, better take those money to improve our crime in Malaysia, like robbing on the street, rapping case, everyday happening, somemore want to promote Visit Malaysia Year 2007, if the tourist knew about this, they won't come here, what a shame !!

Anonymous said...

As a malaysian, after reading your blog, I think I have to say sorry to you and your team as well. Moreover, thank you very very much to bring out such issue!

Sincerely, Sorry & Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Please dont come to Malaysia again. We dont really like ungrateful people. Thank you.

Maverick SM said...

Hi Maverick,

I am Maverick SM, a Malaysian and I am sorry thatsome of our Malaysian assholes had caused you those unnecessary problems and stress.

Malaysians in general are nice people but we are manned by assholes who are saddist and care-for-nothing attitudes.

Please forgive us for the dilemma caused to you and your colleagues. Maybe, if you visit malaysia again, you should call on bloggers here to assist you and be your guide.

Amin Iskandar said...

Dear Nila,

I'm sorry to heard about your bad experiences when you are at my country.

It's very shameful for me to read about your experiences since i've got a good treatment when i was in Jakarta and Aceh last year when i came to observe the Pilkada in Aceh. Of course i remember the kindness of SCTV as well.

The problem is the rulling party regime already rulled the country for 50 years. There is no change. That's why they behave so arrogant.

Take care.

Anonymous said...

i am so disappointed with the tourism minister comment on your blog. wish you hv a pleasant visit to Malaysia next time.

-- a malaysian...

Anonymous said...

Dear Nila,

On behalf of innocent Malaysian, please accept out apology for the treatment you had received. Rest assured that those treatments are not normally given by responsible Malaysian. I hope it will not deter you from visiting our lovely country again in the future.

Anonymous said...

Government brought as much problems to you as they gave us.....

Anonymous said...

Hey All,
I'm a Malaysian, I am 100%understand what you guys are trying to express. You know what? I believe it's "alright" to have our government to "protect" the country in preventing all the "bad news" to be exposed to outsiders. come on... close the door please.

Sorry about ur bad experience here. I guess that's always the case where only GOOD news are to be shown on media(heheh.. you see, what you see is always not what you get.. in Msia)..
It's just shameful to be a Malaysian sometimes.. but too bad.. that's the fact.

zewt said...

Hi there,

Wah... I am really jealous... I wish we Malaysian bloggers can write in such a manner. But you know, we might be branded as 'irresponsible' and might end up in jail if we put such entry in our blog. You know what I mean.

Keep writing my friend....

Anonymous said...

That should be a wake up call for the ministry of tourism - and INDON coming over and complaining about a Malaysian GOVERNMENT body's lack of efficiency....you know that things are REALLY BAD.

Heh.

Shanghai Fish said...

Dear Nila,
I apologise on behalf of all Malaysians for the shameful treatment you should not have received.
Yes , alot of what you say is true, where bureucracy is concerned,
but remember this country is not about idiotic government servants alone....This is the loveliest country in the world... trust me I'm a Malaysian and this is about the Malaysian People... and I'm one of them.
Next time you come to Malaysia, drop me a note and I'll show you what Malaysia and Malaysians are really like..honestly.! so please accept our humble apology. Thank you and God bless !

hua said...

I'm sorry on behalf of malaysian.

Just want to say, the government not indicate the Malaysia people. Especial what the tourism minister said on 8th March.

Anonymous said...

i can't understand why do we (Malaysians) need to apologize when our country's representative (people representative too if you think about it) are not even concern about with, and insulting journalist along the way. http://elizabethwong.wordpress.com/2007/03/08/iwd-tengku-adnan-whacks-women-bloggers/

It is true that Malaysia has a lot more to offer. But Malaysia's tourist industry is run by people who spends more time traveling overseas then to explore what Malaysia has to offer, and the itenary Nila goes through tells it all.

There come a time when there is no need to protect a country who doesn't care about itself.

Anonymous said...

On behalf of many Malaysians, I would like to extend our apology for the bad time you had here.

but I heard from Malay Tourism that all of it was happening because their Indon staff who acompanied SCTV crews along in Malay made mistake, no understand about Malay.

So ... Malaysians have no to say sorry about this.
this is the fact.

Flona said...

Hmmm quite surprised juga...tapi maaf yah...just curious...apakah orang Indonesia juga akan melakukan hal yang sama untuk journalist dari luar? Mudah2an sih gak ya....

andri said...

obviusly it is a big news among malaysian blogsphere, why I just know this news ya ? Perhaps I have to add my blogwalking time :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Nila, am a freelance writer and so interesting to read your malaysia experience in ur blog.
Honestly r so expensive at the moment...

How come they response you so emotional, u just wrote how ur experience based on fact, and how come also they connecting to a women blogger ...its a nonsense..

Keep on a good writing nila and felt sorry to all of bad experience there, I went malaysia few times for my own purpose, wrote my nice experience in my blog also, and actually people r nice there & they has much things to offer for tourist..

Anonymous said...

Hi NILA,

M Korean who visited M'sia lots of times. for mostly for biz. M afraid but I bit don't understand ur story.

Frankly, only one side of ur story, right? We have to listen the other story from TM, haven't we?

Pls, believe me, M visited 30+ countries for biz, incl. Indonesia, too.

my personal experienced; TM is a one of the wonderful organizations on this planet.

unfortunetely, we can meet unhappy experiences anywehere and pls, consider; i saw ur pics on ur blog, looks like had happy days in M'sia.

we can think negatively, but we can do think posively, too.

Tourism Malaysia invited & spent time / money for you, lady.

M wanna tell u my experience and opinion abt M'sia.

Terima Kasih!

Anonymous said...

Hi Nila,

Your trip to Malaysia, was it officially to produce "Melancong Yuk" or was it to cover the Floral Festival?

Did your team go to Malaysia especially to shoot "Melancong Yuk" or to cover "Floral Festival"?

In all fairness, you can't expect a rock concert when you are officially invited for a gala dinner.

Moreover, you can't request a rock concert after you arrived in that gala dinner and expect the host to accomodate your requests.

Were you involved in the planning, programming, and the execution of program, including listing all possible shots and all possible interviews, scripting, and editing? Or were you just the program presenter?

Once again in all fairness, if the Malaysian officials were professional within the boundaries of the official invitation, as in the Floral Festival, then you can't really complain.

I know how an Indonesian media think, since i am a journalist myself. Honestly I think your TV company, or whoever have the programming authority for your program, should have a better budget planning, and allocate more money for your program.

Sometimes it's not always about "mumpung diundang" you know...:)

Anonymous said...

Turut prihatin buat Anda, Nila. Semoga tetap tabah dan terus menulis. Thx 4 ur info

asdfghjkl said...

omg...
can't hardly wait to see how all this story end..

till then, keep writing girl..

You ROCK!!!!!!!!!

p03cn9 said...

Nila...

Keep fighting...
SCTV ? Why did u act like a child....

SCTV must be an independent TV Media as I knew ...do not make our mind changing about this..

Come on...keep on writing...

Cheers for freedom...

Anonymous said...

"Please dont come to Malaysia again. We dont really like ungrateful people. Thank you."
This can describe about what they have done while M do some work there?

Anonymous said...

Hi Nila & Maverick team,

I am Indonesian who just relocate to KL.

In general MY is good country, and KL is nice city, nicer than Jakarta for sure. I believe the people & government here is in the crossing road to get better life after Mahatir era, so give them other chance. They are better dan Indonesian.

It may take some time, but they are going towards good direction.

Please come back to MY and enjoy the trully Asia here.

Bambang

Anonymous said...

hi nila..

as malaysian people, I want to apologize that you had bad experience in our country. Keep Writting and telling the Truth...

noname said...

yap i agree with you.

Anonymous said...

Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor As a ministry you should have good attitude and polite, at least diplomatic the way speak with te public, I'm not agree with your emotional opinion that all blogger lier, without cross check with the blogger it self, what a shame !

For STCV, don't follow the step to cut the creativity, freedom of speak !

Anonymous said...

Can't really blame MTB if your group was only invited for covering the floral festival :D. That's very unfair, but again as "an Indonesian journalist friend" said, "aji mumpung" is really part of our culture here in Indonesia. Is it?
Still, what the minister said about blogger is very stupid though :D. Worsening the situation for them, only :lol:

Anonymous said...

Hi SCTV,

Kenapa acara melancong yuk tidak ada Nila lagi? Ada apa dgn SCTV, takut atau pengecut?

Anonymous said...

I just loved the comment from "An Indonesian Journalist" that said at the end....(Sometimes it's not always about "mumpung diundang" you know...:)) Just laughed my ass off the chair.

....by the way, 'mumpung diundang' has a similar meaning as '....and while we're here, why don't we....'

For several reasons, as an Indonesian, these term reflects some old habit that some Indonesians have.

For once, please answer his question about,

Did your team go to Malaysia especially to shoot "Melancong Yuk" or to cover "Floral Festival"?

If it's for "Melancong Yuk". well, those Malaysian deserved of what you've been saying all along about them, but if for "Floral Festival", well,next time, you should think twice and see the bigger picture of your way of thinking, my dear.

Anonymous said...

it's really sickening to read your story
why is it so hard just to get permission to shoot and take some pictures
i think Malaysia should be grateful to have journalist coming and promoting the country

me myself actually went to the flora festival
and honestly it was dissapointing
people was queueing for almost 1 hour just to get into the exhibition hall (if you say it's a hall)
there were hundreds of people and one small door
people were cramming to get into the hall
and even some dissapointed people were screaming when the guard said "anak-anak dan orang tua dulu ya..."

anyway...putrajaya is actually a nice place to visit
nice architecture
nice view
but too bad the event wasn't organized very well

keep writing...

Anonymous said...

Hiii,

I'm agree to 'An Indonesian Journalist Friend'....

SCTV are invited for Floral Festival only. It's more for news. I hope that will explain about permits for other places. Other than that it is just a complimentary tour and not for shooting any scenes. This such complimentary things (under government or Malaysian People money) will not even exist if you go to other similar event ( or similar invitation) in any other country in the world (Try Singapore). Go to any other places in this globe when you introduce yourself as a TV crew, you will definitly fall under different laws aka u r not a tourist anymore. There are separate laws for TV crews. If only SCTV and other people in Indonesia ( had brief you clearly before you take the flight to KL, this issue will not going to be there in the first place.

Talking about the boat ride in Putrajaya,
I dare to challenge any readers in this blog to shot with a Beta or any professional Cam infront of White House today and not been stare or harrased by the Secreat Sevice.

Putrajaya maybe among the only an A level security area where tourist can carry their camera without any hassle. Again when you tell them u r an SCTV crew....

Try take a picture of MONAS infront of KOMPASUS HQ with BETA or other type of pro cam and see how those soldiers respond.

Although I do agree with some flaws from the government side but to be fair there are other side of story too.

-cendanasari-
Cyberjaya / Putrajaya. Malaysia

Fazli Taufek said...

hi nila

i'm from east Malaysia so pretty much it's the same thing when it comes to having a visit to the 'mainland'. your experience is just a little tiny winny bit compared to my fellow mates. i just dont wanna talk bout it.

i went to jakarta recently and i am quite suprised by the warm reception there. we knew a few girls which was a friend of a friend and we never met them before. they picked us at the airport, pretty much showed us around town, entertain us all day although they have to work during office hours and even lend us their car after knowing us just for a couple of hours. they refuse us to pay for our bills and even bought us things before we leave. their friend were very, i mean very friendly toward us and not like 'KL'lites, fucking snobbish! i practically lived in KL for around 13 years and still they can differ between a Sarawakian and a Sabahan. plus they still think we lived on trees???!!! WTF!!

anyway...i love jakarta....for sure i wanna go there again....now i dont reside in KL but often when i have time i just pass the idea of staying there and go to other places instead.... most of the time i spend my time on transit in KLIA or LCCT rather than spend half a day in KL.....

cheers

michael chick said...

Hi, I read with great interest and despair on the way journalists were man-handled in Kuala Lumpur. This is such a pity, as the sole purpose of inviting the press over is for them to write "good stuff" about Malaysia.
Are Malaysians so unclear of this concept?

There's a 5hr documentary showing you all the sites that the Malaysian government "conveniently" forgot.
It's called "discovermalaysia; the Backpacker's Trail" You can download and watch the trailer if you visit www.discovermalaysia.biz

This is totally Non-Governmental, No Propoganda Bullshit, and most of all, will really help you plan a really good time after watching it.

Bon Apetit

Anonymous said...

hey nila,

you have another sabahan supporting you all the way.

best regards.

Anonymous said...

hey, nice to c ur post here.i oso disappointed wif our tourism board.wat a shame cos let a fren like you from indonesia cant really shoot any scene you want,especially ur job is reporter and want to promote malaysia.i apologize for our clumsy government and i js wana say malaysia is truly beautiful.Hope u can see it by urself next time.^^ selamat datang lagi@歡迎再來馬來西亞!

Anonymous said...

hey nila,

I am definitely late or slow to read about your predicament while in bolehland. As the saying goes, 'better late than never'. Being a Malaysian and working in Jakarta, I am ashamed by the actions of those in MTB. (BTW, I truly enjoy your program on TV, keep it up!)
U know in bolehland..those who are in power are full of rethoric..or better be tagged as "NATO". (This sweeping statement is used in reference to the Tourism Minister comments, if he could do this, I reckon so can I, hehe) I am sure your predicament is true for all other invited journalists.
Nevertheless, it's wonderful to read the insights from your personal point of view. I am sure you have lots of support from all the Malaysian working here in Indonesia and thank you for the positive coverage despite the negative treatment you got from those 'unqualified' MTB officials.
Cheers,
Food for thought.

Anonymous said...

copied from Bambang:
Anonymous said...
Hi Nila & Maverick team,

I am Indonesian who just relocate to KL.

In general MY is good country, and KL is nice city, nicer than Jakarta for sure. I believe the people & government here is in the crossing road to get better life after Mahatir era, so give them other chance. They are better dan Indonesian.

It may take some time, but they are going towards good direction.

Please come back to MY and enjoy the trully Asia here.

Bambang

=>>> Bambang.. r u loosing your nationalism??? Btw, i support u maverick!!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad time in Malaysia. It's just that the government thinks that it can operate in an Orwellian world, where people's thoughts and actions are completely controlled and regulated by the people in power. And media management is definitely a big part of the government operation in Malaysia. In other countries where the media is the "fourth estate" to check the government's transgressions, the mainstream media in Malaysia is simply part of the government apparatus. Shameless! Anyway, to cendanasari, tourists are allowed to take pictures in-front of the White House, even with high-powered lens! Trust me, even with the most advanced camera and lens, you can't see much from outside the White House gates. So, please refrain from making comments you have no first-hand experience of.

Anonymous said...

We know it's must be a problem with you because your job is must record every interesting things at Malaysia, and you right, you may dissapointed, and that's is your authorization to write at your own blog what your feel... that's good...

For that one man from Malaysian Goverment, he should be wise and smart when he want to say something in public ofcourse...

And I have a little point of view from my own, better this problem should not be gonna more big, I think Nila have a glorious mind that now everything is ok, and don't want get too long in this situation rite?! :)

If we have a matchbox, we don't want burn all the forest rite?! stay in peace :)

Jozef said...

Dear Malaysian.. Please do not try to defend yourself since it is futile. Any aggressive form of comment that 'tries' to demean Nila's case here will only make it worst. This is not a debate. It has happened. And the real issue here is that the Malaysian Government in response is not clearing this mess and are simply worsening it by their ignorant comment everyday. Without commenting on their democratic citizen, i want to attack their government for trying to defend their action as if it were right. You are not right. The people have their voices. You cannot control what is inherently free.

Anonymous said...

Nila,

Frankly speaking I'd betcha that our own Indonesian tourism/information officials are a lot lot, and heaps lot, worse than their Malay counterparts. And at least the ones in Malaysia speak English.

I'm Indonesian btw....

sista said...

c'mon.. its just the way she showed her expression. many people did the same in such of things. the problem grew when she said that the board caused this disappointment.
hearing that statement, its not surprising if board felt so insulted. they'r gov't. they might be so sensitive when your opinion touches them.

so, i think, board (or Malaysian gov't) should have reacted wisely without making it worse.

pseudorca said...

Hi there,
A relative of mine told me about your blog post, and all the hassle it has brought upon you.
Well, I totally sympathize for you, and I cannot comprehend how could a constructive criticism (constructed in a very polite way, If I may say) can cause such an incident... I also admire you, for carrying on with your writing despite everything.
Therefore, I would like to wish you all the best in the future :)

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Anonymous said...

I'm a Malaysian, sadly and shameful. Not that I hate the country...but frankly the government made me learn to hate it.

Its not new news to be treated like there's lots of secret to be kept. Even the blind can see how Malaysia is as a country. We are best in corruption...ask our PM if you dont believe. So being treated like a kid is not something new.

Just my deepest apology to be treated this way.

Do drop by again...dont come to visit, just come to EAT!

Anonymous said...

hi nila

ive been to Malaysia and Singapore quite few times. Honestly saying that Malaysia is much better than Singapore. There are many places that to visit. I felt so relax with the greenery atmosphere compared to hectic city of Singapore. I think u r quite unlucky of having bad experience there. enjoy urself travelling....