Mohammadin clears up pharaohs exhibition confusion
Tourism Minister Mohammadin Ketapi said the confusion on staging the exhibition of tombs and artefacts of Egyptian pharaohs in Kuala Lumpur was due to a miscommunication.
Mohammadin, claimed he was in the dark, despite announcements made by him and his deputy Muhammad Bakhtiar bin Wan Chik on the exhibition last week.
Tourism Minister Mohammadin Ketapi said the confusion on staging the exhibition of tombs and artefacts of Egyptian pharaohs in Kuala Lumpur was due to a miscommunication.
Mohammadin had claimed he was in the dark, despite announcements made by him and his deputy Muhammad Bakhtiar bin Wan Chik on the exhibition last week.
However, the minister today admitted in the Dewan Rakyat that he had actually signed off on the request to loan the artefacts.
The exhibition is expected to be held in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2020
"I signed off the letter to loan the pharaohs artefacts to be brought to Malaysia.
"The problem was when approval was received, I was not informed by the museum's director-general.
"As I need not know that it had been approved, I said I did not know when I was asked about it," he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Mohammadin was responding to Awang Hashim (Pendang - PAS) who asked the minister to explain the contradictory statements.
"It was only the next day that I was informed. I summoned my director-general (and asked) why when you need a signature, you find me but when there is a decision, I am told late.
"He apologised. To me, it's a small matter and it is forgiven. So it's a miscommunication. I hope it is not turned into a big issue," said Mohammadin.
He said the allocation for the exhibition has yet to be made under Budget 2020 as the ministry was unsure if it will be approved at that time.
Awang also asked Mohammadin why hold such an exhibition and joked if this was in reference to "Mahafiraun" (great pharoah), a nickname used against Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The minister said this was not the first time foreign artefacts were displayed at Muzium Negara and used the recently displayed "Golden Man", a Kazakhstani warrior costume, as an example.
However, Mohammadin was subsequently passed a note which he then read from, stating that the exhibition will be relevant as it is about civilisational history.
"Pharaohs refer to the name of (Egyptian) kings and not all pharaohs are evil and cruel. This is from the note," he said as the Dewan Rakyat broke into laughter.
On Oct 29, Bakhtiar said the government was working to finalise the exhibition with the Egyptian government and will try to raise the necessary funds.
"Every exhibition tour involving Ramses II and King Tut have always received a high number of visitors, so in line with Visit Malaysia Year 2020, we are not just attracting the local visitors but also tourists from Asean member countries," he was quoted as saying.
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