Tourism Ministry to hold contest to amend flamed Visit Malaysia 2020 logo

The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry will hold a competition to amend the current Visit Malaysia 2020 logo, which has come under fire since it was launched in January this year.According to The Star, Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamaddin Ketapi said participants are free to make changes to the current logo once the competition is launched. Top entries will be selected and used to modify the existing design.However, the entire logo will not be refreshed, the minister said, adding that the orangutan wearing sunglasses will either be removed or touched up. In July this year, the ministry said it is ready to revise the logo if required. Mohamaddin Ketapi said then that the country has “a long time” before 2020 to improve on or touch up the existing design “if necessary”.Designed to look like a postage stamp, the Visit Malaysia 2020 logo carries the tagline “Travel. Enjoy. Respect.”. It features an orangutan with its arm around a proboscis monkey and a turtle on the beach, as well as the Petronas Twin Towers in the background. The logo is intended to be a “colourful portrayal” of Malaysia’s treasured flora and fauna.Despite netizens commenting about the logo being "hideous" and "embarrassing", former Tourism and Culture minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz defended the logo, saying it was designed by its in-house design department. He added that criticism is normal and the consensus of the whole country cannot be achieved as the logo will otherwise not be completed by 2020.