Extracted from The Star 4/5/2007 (Friday)
Members of the public have been warned to be wary of being cheated by certain irresponsible individuals selling portraits of the recently-installed Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Permaisuri Agong.
The official portraits of Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin and Tuanku Nur Zahirah can only be produced, printed and released by the Information Department and they can actually be obtained for free from state and district Information Department offices and public information centres.
Information director-general Datuk Abdullah Morad said some irresponsible parties had used super imposed techniques to produce and sell one set of King’s and Queen’s portraits for RM90 each through orders at certain bookstores in March before the installation of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“The individuals had superimposed the faces of Tuanku Mizan and Tuanku Nur Zahirah with the portraits of the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Permaisuri Agong before the installation of Tuanku Mizan. As a result, the medals on the royal attire do not match those of current Yang di-Pertuan Agong,” he told a press conference on the distribution of the official portraits here on Friday.
“This is an offence but the problem is some government agencies have bought the portraits before the installation.”
Abdullah said the department warned the irresponsible parties several times and even lodged a police report on the matter and another report to the Prime Minister’s Department's protocol division. He advised the public to report to the nearest district Information Department offices, if they come across cases of people selling the portraits.
Abdullah said the department had printed 500,000 sets of portraits of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Raja Permaisuri Agong. “If not adequate, we will print some more,” he added.
He urged public and private agencies and organisations to get the portraits and display them on the walls of their offices as a symbol of loyalty to the King and the country, which is one of the tenets of the Rukunegara.
Trully, why would anyone want to do that? Don't Malaysian citizens have respect for the rulers of our country anymore? Although nowadays mostly everything is controlled by our Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, the symbol of the King and Queen should also be honoured and respected as remembrance of the heroes that fought for Malaysia long ago. Let's protect their status and honour them with all our hearts, Malaysians!
