Another carmaker incurs netizens’ wrath over Sabah, Sarawak gaffe

Stellantis NV, which is seeking to make Malaysia its Asean hub, had mistakenly labelled Sabah as Sarawak in a presentation slide. (Daily Express Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Another carmaker has incurred the wrath of Malaysian social media users after a gaffe which saw Sabah and Sarawak being mislabelled.

Stellantis NV, which is seeking to make Malaysia its Asean hub, had mistakenly labelled Sabah as Sarawak in a presentation slide.

The Stellantis group’s 14 brands are Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS Automobiles, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram and Vauxhall.

The carmaker drew criticism and ridicule from netizens, who questioned how this could still happen after more than six decades of Malaysia’s establishment.

Some Facebook users quipped that this was a tactic to gain publicity.

Others also took issue with the reduction in size of Sabah and Sarawak compared with Peninsular Malaysia. Geographically, West Malaysia is about 132,265 square kilometres while East Malaysia is around 198,447 square kilometres.

“Mislabelling is one thing. The (wrong) ratio of East to West Malaysia is another common habit of some people. Amending the ratio of the Malaysian map should be a serious offence, much like changing any element in the Malaysian flag or coat of arms,” said Facebook user Sarawak Sim.

A similar blunder occurred in June after national carmaker Proton mistakenly swapped the names of Sabah and Sarawak during a presentation.

Proton later acknowledged the error and apologised, saying it regretted the mistake.