The Government of Malaysia denied the offensive statement made by Nigel Ng, a Malaysian national, stressing that it does not reflect its view.
“The Government of Malaysia wishes to reiterate that it does not condone of any words or actions that were harmful and hurtful to others. They are not in any way reflect our views,” stated the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release issued on Aug. 18.
“Cambodia and Malaysia enjoy a strong and multi-faceted relationship that are deep and wide-ranging. We also share unique historical and close people-to-people relations. Hence, such comments made by Nigel Ng are obstructive and undermine the trust and friendship fostered by both our countries and our peoples,” it underlined.
Cambodia and Malaysia have maintained good cooperation in both international and regional fora, while attaching great importance in upholding the principles of ASEAN, said the source.
“This is the substance of our commitment to preserve harmonious environment with our foreign counterparts. The recent official visit by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the Honourable Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim to Cambodia, has further solidified the long-standing relationship and cemented our commitment to cooperate at all levels,” the press release concluded.
On Aug. 7, the Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia issued a statement demanding a public apology from Nigel Ng or Uncle Roger for wrongly evaluating Cambodian food on social media, YouTube Channel named Nigel Ng, published on July 30, 2023, entitled "Uncle Roger Make Adobo".
According to the statement, the assessment of Nigel Ng completely deviates from the reality of the prestige and identity of Khmer food, especially has seriously affected Cambodian food tourism, which the Royal Government of Cambodia, as well as the Ministry of Tourism, has strived to promote on the international stage to be widely recognised that "Cambodia has a Beautiful Culture and Unique Taste of its Cuisine". As a result, in 2022, the Khmer cookbook named "Taste of Angkor" compiled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia won The Best Asian Cookbook Prize at The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2021 in Paris.
Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP)