From Malaysiakini:
After Felda remarks, Chef Wan's restaurant marinates in negative reviews
The social media pages for celebrity chef Redzuawan Ismail's restaurant is being peppered with liberal doses of negative reviews.
In an Instagram posting, Redzuawan, who is popularly known as Chef Wan, linked it to his remarks after receiving the Ikon Anak Felda award from Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad last week, where he reportedly described how Felda settlers were lazy and accused them of “breeding like cats.”
“These cyber troopers are bad mouthing and slandering our restaurant. They think all Malaysians are as stupid as them to swallow that 's***'.
“They are barking like mad dogs wanting me to return the Felda Icon award,” he added in the Instagram posting.
However, Redzuawazan said the negative reviews have not hurt business at this restaurant, De.Wan 1958 by Chef Wan, at The Linc KL in Jalan Tun Razak.
In an interview with New Straits Times published today, the 61-year-old chef claimed that certain quarters had twisted his previous remarks.
“People need to read the sentences properly. I did not say 'all' Felda settlers are lazy. I said 'segelintir', which means 'some',” he said.
Redzuawazan said that some of the settlers had more than one wife and numerous children but were irresponsible and did not take care of their offsprings.
“There are youngsters who are jobless loafers and drug addicts with no education. All of this causes social problems.
“Don’t twist and turn things just to get votes and political mileage,” he said.
After receiving the award, Redzuawazan, in an Instagram post, urged Felda settlers, to work hard to cultivate cash crops since the price of palm oil is uncertain.
“Malaysia is blessed with good soil and there is a lot of idle lands. The government should privatise this land for cash crops.
“I have travelled to Australia, Norway and Sweden for my TV shows and saw how people cultivate cash crops and raise livestock, making full use of the land and contributing to the economy.
“Back home, many of my fellow Felda settlers sell off fertiliser subsidies given to them by the government, and when they receive dividends, they marry two or three times and 'breed like cats'.
“I saw all of this when I was growing up (in a Felda settlement). Their bad attitude has been passed on to their grandchildren,” he had said, drawing flak from certain quarters.
This is the politically-charged tactic pioneered in the US to attack restaurants that partisan reviewers intend to denigrate.
ReplyDeleteIt has nothing to do with the merits , good or bad of the restaurant.
I detest the tactic.
Shame on Ah Mok to promote this type of partisan attacks.
mad dog still better than running dog.
ReplyDeleteChef Wan shouldn't even bother to reply to his critics which calls for a boycott of his restaurant or giving negative reviews to damage his reputation when it is based on political issues and not on the food or services provided.
ReplyDeleteIf the food and services are good in any restaurant owned business, it is the customers and food gourmets who will decide and can easily over time overwhelm any other critics who based it solely on political reasons or hashing unfounded criticisms.
Who really cares who owns what restaurants or business as long as the standard of food and services is up to par and according to the prices expected or norms.
It's no loss to anybody if some based their eating habits or enjoyment of good food based solely on their political beliefs.
Throughout the world, who in their right mind would enter or leave a food restaurant based solely on political considerations instead of the actual food and services?