{"id":11043,"date":"2025-11-13T00:33:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T16:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=11043"},"modified":"2025-11-13T00:33:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T16:33:36","slug":"culinary-diplomacy-malaysian-minister-hosts-bak-kut-teh-lunch-for-chee-hong-tat-in-kuala-lumpur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=11043","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Culinary diplomacy\u2019: Malaysian minister hosts bak kut teh lunch for Chee Hong Tat in Kuala Lumpur"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\"><span class=\"dateline\">PETALING JAYA<\/span> &#8211; <!-- -->Malaysia\u2019s Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming hosted Singapore\u2019s National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat in Kuala Lumpur over a steaming bowl of bak kut teh <!-- -->on Nov 12.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Nga\u2019s ministry, which issued a statement on the meeting, added that the gesture exemplified the strong friendship and enduring ties between Malaysia and Singapore through what Mr Nga fondly described as \u201cculinary diplomacy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cDuring the meeting on Wednesday, both ministers held in-depth discussions on a wide range of topics, including urban planning, urban renewal, waste management, affordable housing and sustainable development,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Nga said that Malaysia and Singapore shared many common challenges in urban planning and housing policy \u2013 particularly in major metropolitan areas where land is limited and population density is high.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He emphasised that achieving a balance between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/spore-malaysia-step-up-cooperation-in-areas-like-higher-education-carbon-credits-urban-planning?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">environmental protection, development and liveability remained a shared priority<\/p>\n<p><\/a> for both nations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cBoth sides also explored opportunities to strengthen collaboration between professional bodies and local governments through civil service training and smart city development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Highlighting the cultural dimension of the visit, Mr Nga shared that bak kut teh was officially recognised in 2024 as part of Malaysia\u2019s National Food Heritage under the National Heritage Act 2005.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He added that welcoming international guests with this national dish represents a form of heartfelt diplomacy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">This meeting marks the third engagement between Mr Nga and Mr Chee since May, reflecting the close cooperation between Malaysia and Singapore in the areas of housing and urban governance, and further strengthening the friendship between the two neighbouring nations. <!-- -->THE STAR\/ASIA NEWS NETWORK<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"tags-test-id\">\n<p><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Singapore\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Singapore<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Malaysia\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Malaysia<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Singapore-Malaysia ties\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Singapore-Malaysia ties<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Food and drink\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Food and drink<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Diplomacy\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Diplomacy<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/asia\/se-asia\/diploma-tea-malaysian-minister-hosts-chee-hong-tat-for-lunch-in-kl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PETALING JAYA &#8211; Malaysia\u2019s Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming hosted Singapore\u2019s National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat in Kuala Lumpur over a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}