Higher Education Minister slammed over proposed TikTok competition

PETALING JAYA: Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad has raised eyebrows for proposing a TikTok competition to convince young Malaysians to stay home during the movement control order (MCO),

Malaysians on social media are accusing her of having misplaced priorities.

A one-minute video of her making the suggestion was taken down on yesterday (April 8) following public backlash.

Social media influencers Norreen and Iskandar Rahman posed as Noraini’s children in the video, which is believed to have been recorded at the Ministry’s office.

The proposed TikTok competition, which was slated to take place from April 8-14, was also promoted in a poster featuring Noraini, Norreen and Iskandar.

In the video, Noraini is seen gently shaking her head to the dance tune “Ke sana ke sini”, which features snippets from Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s speech on the MCO.

Iskandar, clad in a visor and a casual outfit, is seen shuffling to a dance tune in the video until he is interrupted by Norreen, who corrects his dance moves to sync with the hip-hop tune.

“Jangan merayau-rayau (Don’t go wandering). Stay at home. Kita buat TikTok, siapa paling creative. Saya ada hadiah menarik untuk anda (Let’s do TikTok videos. I have an interesting prize for the most creative), ” she says in the video.

Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad tweeted that the Parit Sulong MP should focus on the welfare of university students.

He said she would be better served thinking about the welfare of students who are worried about what their semester is going to be like.

“Students who are staying by themselves, some of them are not eating regularly – so focus on that rather than TikTok, ” Nik Nazmi tweeted.

Other Malaysians on social media said Noraini might have “tried too hard”.

“It’s not wrong to use TikTok to engage with youngsters in universities. You go where your target audience is.

“The concept is there, but the execution is bad, ” tweeted someone with the handle “Caleb”.