M’sian Rapper Namewee Says Malaysian Food Is Tastier Than Singapore’s But Singapore Made Food In The Region Famous Internationally

If you didn’t know, Malaysian star Namewee, 40, known for his outspokenness and controversial social commentaries, has a YouTube channel with a name that would make our mums smack us for saying out loud.

Last week, he posted a video where he ranked popular holiday destinations in Asia, namely, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

Given his reputation for being direct, we can trust that he’s being honest right?

He was given five categories — food, sightseeing, traffic, safety, and kindness/ hospitality — and asked to rank these cities S, A, B, or C, with S being the best.

So how did Singapore end up being top in two categories, and a C in one?

When it came to Singapore food, Namewee said: “This is the one that Malaysians quarrel with the most. Which country does bak kut teh and satay belong to? Who invented chicken rice? They definitely lose to Malaysia lah, but there are some things they do well. For example, their bak kut teh is pepper based, and it’s good. But if you tell me it’s [the same Bak Kut Teh that we know], we can fight for two hours.”

He continued: But I have to say that the Singaporeans are the ones who make Malaysian and Singaporean food famous around the world. They’re good at promotion. That’s something Malaysians can’t do,” he continued.

As such, Singapore was ranked A for food, together with Malaysia. Thailand and Japan ranked S for food, Hong Kong got an A and Taiwan, a B.

For sightseeing, he gave Singapore a C.

“There’s nothing much to do on holiday there. It’s a place where people go to work and earn money. Yes, they are putting in a lot of effort in ‘creating’ tourist destinations, and I think it’s okay to go once ‘cos there are many places such as Marina Bay Sands where you can take photos, but you’ll be done in one day. Okay lah, two days ‘cos they also have Universal Studios and the zoo,” he said.

His main gripe? Our sightseeing tourist destinations are all man-made, and though he sees the effort put in to create these locations, he doesn’t get the “holiday mood” here.

“Don’t be angry ah, Singaporean friends. If it’s fun [for you] back home, why would you come to Malaysia for holiday?” he said matter-of-factly, before adding: “To Malaysians, there really isn’t much to do there.”

To be fair, Namewee feels that Malaysia’s tourism mainly depends on Penang, Sabah, Langkawi, and Kuala Lumpur. “It’s actually quite boring,” he said with a laugh.

He then ranked Malaysia A, but only because he was “being patriotic”. Taiwan, Thailand and Japan were given an S, while Hong Kong, got a C like us.

According to Namewee, Singapore’s traffic is “best of the world”, hence he gave us an S along with Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan. Malaysia ended up in B, and Thailand in C.

You probably would’ve also guessed that Singapore was ranked S for safety, for reasons we don’t need to elaborate on.

However when it came to kindness and hospitality, he ranked Singapore a B.

He described Singaporeans as structured and meticulous, which in this context could also mean that we’re inflexible.

“When you speak to them, whether it’s regarding business or other matters, they will say “Can you send me an email of what we spoke about?”. They’re not really warm people… They follow the law, and when law has such great importance, kindness is generally affected as well,” he said, while adding that we’re at least more “chill” than people in Hong Kong.

Taiwan and Thailand, on the other hand, were ranked S in terms.

 

Photos: Namewee/ Instagram, The Geebai Team (擊敗人團隊)/ YouTube