A FUMING Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia (BERJASA) president has slammed the Visit Malaysa Year 2026 (VMY 2026) organising committee for their oversight of “not even featuring one mosque” in the VMY 2026 promotional video.
For context, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had on Monday (Jan 6) unveiled the VM2026 campaign which targets to welcome 35.6 million international visitors and generate RM147.1 bil in tourism receipts, thus making the event a significant chapter in Malaysia’s tourism journey.
“From start to finish of the 41-second promotional video, there is not even one mosque when Islam is the official religion of the federation,” lambasted Zamani Ibrahim who is president of the political party in a Facebook video.
“There is not a few but many mosques which are big in size that can be incorporated as one of the venues of attraction in the promotional video. But what can be seen are only the Batu Caves (Sri Subramaniar Swamy) Hindu temple and the Christ Church in Melaka.”
Earlier, Zamani hit out at failure of the VMY2026 initiative spearheaded by Tourism, Arts and Culture minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing to uphold the status of the national identity based on Malay culture and Islam as the official religion of the federation.
“I’m very jealous at people responsible in preparing the VMY2026 promotional video … where are the relevant bodies to evaluate if the presented venues of attraction are appropriate?” he lamented.
“At the end of the day, I’m afraid that the perception form by the Chinese, Indian, European or Arab tourists is that Malaysia is not a Muslim country as what they see is far-fetched from the Islamic guidelines while the promotional material fails to incorporate even a mosque.
“This has not even taken into account yet as to how many of the targeted 35.6 million international visitors will return to their homeland.”
In a related development, Zamani who contested unsuccessfully in the 15th General Election (GE15) under the PEJUANG ticket was also furious that more than 40 concerts involving international artistes have been lined up to lure tourists into Malaysia.
“This is considering that the right thing to do is to prioritise the lifting of the national culture, e.g. Malay dances side-by-side perhaps lion or dragon dances,” he proposed.
“We’re very concerned over moral damages inflicted on the younger generation and youth as the concerts can potentially wipe out jatidiri (true identity) of our children … we make rake in a few million ringgit but no money can ever treat the damage done to our younger generation.
“I really wonder as to whose brainchild is this given the campaign organiser could at least have consulted JAKIM (Malaysian Islamic Development Department) for its opinion to ascertain what is been planned during VMY2026 does not leave a scar or potentially wipe out the national Malay Muslim identity.” – Jan 8, 2025