As Malaysians, we’re fiercely proud of our local cuisine and would jump into defense mode whenever another country tries to lay claim to or talk trash about our iconic dishes.
A verbal battle over the origins of a popular dish has once again sparked a wave of outrage from Malaysians after a netizen claimed that it belonged to Singapore.
Netizen says nasi lemak comes from SG
The online verbal war all began thanks to a tweet by a Malaysian news outlet, who called upon netizens to give them their most “controversial food opinions”.
Don't be shy! Come fight us in the comments and don't hold back!
— Cilisos (@cilisosmy) August 27, 2024
(1/6) pic.twitter.com/Wouzbmsl5r
While a majority of the comments in the thread touched upon well-known food cliches and stereotypes, one netizen decided to crank the heat (and controversy) up by posting this:
M’sians rush to defend nasi lemak from being claimed
As expected, the netizen’s extremely spicy and highly contentious take about the origins of nasi lemak was bound to trigger a wave of backlash, which came in the form of angry replies from Malaysians.
‘Nothing originates from Singapore except kiasu (the fear of losing).’
‘Not only do they (Singapore) steal our petrol and diesel, even our nasi lemak also want to steal. Even the Konoha country (a nickname for Indonesia) has never claimed nasi lemak to be theirs.’
A netizen also advised the OP to delete his nasi lemak tweet before things got out of hand.
For the record, nasi lemak 100% originates from Malaysia, where it used to be a staple breakfast item in Malay villages.
This isn’t the first time a ‘war’ has sparked between Malaysia and Singapore when it comes to laying claim on local dishes and fruits:
