Kudos for Xi's Malaysia visit eclipsed by flag furore

Focus shifts from landmark event to slip-ups by two local Chinese-language newspapers

- Shannon Teoh

KUALA LUMPUR - President Xi Jinping was still in the sky between Hanoi and Putrajaya on April 15, but already the Chinese anthem was being played in the Malaysian capital.

The anthem played before U Mobile, the telco partly owned by Malaysia's King, signed deals with not just one, but two Chinese equipment providers — Huawei and ZTE — that day to establish a national 5G network, in an event timed to coincide with the state visit. The event was attended by Chinese Industries and Information Technology Ministry chief Li Lecheng, who arrived ahead of his president.

There has been understandable pomp and pageantry for the landmark visit from the Chinese leader — his first to Malaysian soil in a dozen years, and with the country being one of only three nations on his five-day South-east Asian tour.

The visit was supposed to be a feather in Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's cap. But pride quickly turned to annoyance and even anger, as traffic was snarled up amid massive road closures that began days before Mr Xi's arrival, leaving drivers fuming.

Worse, as newspapers dedicated numerous front and prime pages to Mr Xi — even relegating news of the death of Malaysia's fifth premier Abdullah Badawi to lesser prominence — two local Chinese-language publications came under fire for featuring Malaysian flags without the crescent moon. The crescent symbolises the official position of Islam in multicultural Malaysia, where inter-racial issues, particularly between the Malay-Muslim majority and ethnic minorities like the Chinese and Indians, are often weaponised.