By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Oct 6: There is no law that prohibits the serving of alcohol at government functions, says Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan.
He said this in response to criticism surrounding Dato Seri Tiong King Sing—who is the minister in charge of the country’s tourism, arts, and culture affairs—over the serving of alcohol at a dinner held in conjunction with Tourism Malaysia’s Global Travel Meet recently.
In a statement, Voon said that tourism is a big business, and Tiong should be left to do his work and bring revenue and business into the country, and that there was nothing for him to clarify.
“Even if there is a directive that no liqueur could be served in government functions or functions to be attended by Muslims, this directive is void or not enforceable, because I could not find any law for the issue of such directives to prohibit liqueur be served in government functions.
“Such directives could create a very dangerous precedent to the harmony of a multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysian society,” he said.
He also added that there is no law to restrict or prohibit what types of foods and drinks non-Muslims should or should not take during public functions.
On Oct 4, Tiong rebuked claims by Melaka’s Masjid Tanah MP Mas Ermieyati Samsudin about alcohol being served at a government event, stating the dinner was a private industry initiative, not a government function.
In a Facebook post, he explained that Tourism Malaysia was only responsible for organising the Global Travel Meet, and the dinner was organised by private sector partners to celebrate Malaysia’s first global travel event of its kind.
“They were genuinely excited that, for the first time, we had taken the initiative to organise a global-level event of this nature. In that spirit, they took it upon themselves to sponsor and host an appreciation dinner for their international industry partners,” said Tiong. — DayakDaily
