KUALA LUMPUR: “Timah”, the Malaysian made whisky which recently made headlines over its brand name, is a disservice to women, a Pakatan Harapan MP said.
Rusnah Aluai insisted that Timah was a name associated with a Malay woman, like “Kak Timah” or “Makcik Timah”.
“So when we drink the whisky, it gives the impression that we are drinking a Malay woman,” the Tangga Batu MP said when debating the amendments to the Trade Descriptions Act at the Dewan Rakyat today.
“The brand name is extremely confusing”.
The PKR member also took issue with the headgear worn by “Captain Speedy”, the image featured on the alcoholic beverage which she said looked like a “kopiah” or a Muslim skullcap.
Rusnah said “Captain Speedy” could have been depicted wearing a hat instead.
She also suggested the “Timah” brand name be changed to “The Mines”.
Deputy agriculture and food industries minister Che Abdullah Mat Nawi agreed with her, adding that any products that caused confusion among consumers, should be banned.
The whisky’s manufacturer previously said that “Timah” the Malay word for tin, honours the role the metal played in the country’s development when Malaya was the world’s largest tin producer.
“Captain Speedy” meanwhile is Tristam Speedy, an explorer and adventurer who was the first superintendent of police in Penang in 1871. He was one of the men who introduced the whisky culture back then.
The image of him on the bottle dates from 1868 when he was photographed wearing Ethiopian royal or noble garb.
Some detractors, including PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, previously claimed that the whisky’s name resembles that of the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter.
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