Minister: Be open-minded, Motac will look seriously into including ‘bak kut teh’ as heritage dish

By Lian Cheng

KUCHING, June 15: Urging Malaysians to be open-minded, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) Dato Sri Tiong King Sing says the ministry will look into the possibility of including ‘bak kut teh’ as one of the heritage dishes of Malaysia. 

He stressed that bak kut teh is basically a herbal dish and though it was initially only cooked with pork, time has changed that.  

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Following its popularity and to ensure that all Malaysians may enjoy it, chicken, seafood and mutton bak kut teh which are halal, can now be found.

Acknowledging that the pork-based version is still the dish with the longest history in Malaysia, he applauded its progress in including other ingredients.

“I think we should be open-minded. We can’t just jump to conclusions. If we were to recommend it as a heritage dish or to be one of the best dishes in Malaysia, we will let the international (community to decide) taste it.

“I am going to tell my ministry. We will look into it (to list bak kut teh as a heritage dish) very seriously,” said Tiong when asked by the media to comment on his deputy Khairul Firdaus’ response on including it as a heritage dish in the Q&A session in Parliament.  

The video of the interview has been shared on Tiong’s social media.

Tiong, who is also Bintulu MP, said when the ministry is carrying out the endeavour to determine if it could be a heritage dish, he will invite only the non-Muslims to test the pork version while for the halal version with chicken and seafood, he will invite all Malaysians to savour them and decide. 

During the Q&A session, Langkawi MP Datuk Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah had questioned whether pork bak kut teh should be recommended as a Malaysian heritage dish as certain communities in Malaysia do not consume it.

In answering to him, Khairul agreed with him that for a dish to be termed as a national heritage dish, it must be one that is able to be enjoyed by all Malaysians.  

However, Khairul also brought up the fact that there are variations of the dish which can be taken by all Malaysians.

Meanwhile, Mohd Suhaimi had brought up the issue in the first place because Tebrau Jimmy Puah (Democratic Action Party) had questioned Motac’s efforts in ensuring dishes such as nasi lemak, bak kut teh and laksa continue to stay as the nation’s heritage food in view that there are other countries trying to make the claim, especially for bak kut teh. — DayakDaily