THAT acclaimed Chinese actress Fan Bingbing is set to be named Melaka’s tourism ambassador on June 15 has not been graciously greeted by social media influencer Yap Xiang who is also the PKR’s student wing vice chairman.
This follows news flow that Melaka chief minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh (main image, right) has recently had a meeting with Fan’s manager Jersey Chong (main image. left) to discuss her visit to the state from June 14 to 16.
“So, we’re having a MAINLAND CHINESE actress who evades tax to promote Melaka? Where are you @drakmalsaleh (alluding to the outspoken UMNO Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh who is also the Melaka state assemblyman for Merlimau)?” tweeted Yap Xiang in response to a BFM News post on the X platform.
So we’re having a MAINLAND CHINESE actress who evades tax to promote Melaka? https://t.co/clOUT2LunM
— yapxiang #EndStatelessness (@yapxiang) May 29, 2024
This is despite Bingbing being touted as one of the world’s highest paid actresses with 63 million followers on Weibo (China’s version of X) and 4.1 million Instagram followers as well as often regarded as the face of global Chinese culture.
Her box-office appeal extends beyond just Chinese movies, having also acted in the Hollywood superhero movie – X-Men: Days of Future Past – as well in French and Korean movies. Moreover, the 42-year-old Chinese celebrity has been the face of Adidas, Louis Vuitton and Moet, selling everything from lipstick to diamonds.
Nevertheless, the pro-Pakatan Harapan activist’s post made Malaysians wonder how Melaka is able to tap Bingbing’s ‘diminishing popularity’ given Beijing had slapped her with hefty fine following which she had disappeared from the entertainment scene for a long while.
One netizen reckoned that while Bingbing is capable of attracting local Chinese who might possess “OMG this place Fan Bingbing makan before!!” mentality, he wondered how tourists from Mainland China would really feel about this.
Another netizen teased if Melaka “has run out of Malaysian Chinese to be appointed as tourism ambassador” while another remarked “why must the Mainland Chinese being favoured while the Chinese at home are left to starve?”
More so, Yap Xiang’s post elicited humorous feedback from netizens with one wondering if “we’re moving from supporting local tax evaders (alluding to disgraced former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is now behind bars in Kajang Prison) to supporting foreign tax evaders”.
Another netizen recalled how Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan who was conferred Datukship by the Melaka governor in 2008 has since moved to Dubai, hence the possible need to search for “another ambassador from the East as replacement”.
Finally, one shared Bingbing’s courtesy call to His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim King of Malaysia on Dec 6 last year (prior to his appointment as the Yang di-Pertuan Agomg). – May 31, 2024
Main image credit: Ab Rauf Yusoh Facebook/Just Shared
