Tourism, arts and culture minister Tiong King Sing has downplayed criticism of a strategic collaboration between the ministry and Starbucks for the Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM2026) campaign.
He told the Dewan Rakyat that his ministry wasn’t just working with Starbucks for the campaign, but also many other brands.
“We’re not only collaborating with Starbucks. I invite all MPs to come to my ministry anytime, I can show you the full list of our partnerships.
“People keep politicising everything. This doesn’t bring any benefit to the nation. Do we want tourists to come or not?” he said during his winding-up speech on the 2026 supply bill.
“If we want to play politics every day, we might as well go back to the villages instead of being in this lower house.”
Tiong said that the ministry partnered with Danish butter cookie brands and even perfume brands owned by Muslims, “but no one brings that up”.
On Sept 30, Bernama reported that Starbucks Malaysia had formed a strategic partnership with Tourism Malaysia to help promote VM2026 under the theme “Surreal Experiences”.
The announcement drew criticism from the public, given the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Some also questioned why Tourism Malaysia chose a global foreign brand instead of local ones such as Zus Coffee and Boh Tea.
Starbucks was among the US brands that were boycotted over the country’s support of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which resulted in franchise holder, Berjaya Food Bhd reporting a net loss of RM70.3 million for the six-month period that ended in December.
