KUALA LUMPUR – Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah’s Instagram account has once again gone missing following social media brickbats.
The queen’s account, with the handle @airtangan_tunkuazizah, appears to have been taken down late last night, with a notice stating “the link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed”.
The account is said to have more than 1.3 million followers.
Twitter users are questioning whether the account was deleted instead of deactivated, with suggestions that it may have been removed after Tunku Azizah replied “Where is MAEPS?” in an interaction with an Instagram user.
A screenshot circulating online shows user @pjamay asking the queen whether the cupcakes that she prepared would be sent to frontliners at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS), where a Covid-19 quarantine centre is operating. Tunku Azizah, in response, posted: “maeps tu di mana? (where is MAEPS?)”
When other users replied with the location, the queen responded: “pegawai istana dalam perjalanan ke serdang (palace officers are on their way to Serdang).”
In response to the alleged gaffe, Twitter user @zfadli said: “No idea where MAEPS is? So out of touch with reality that the rakyat are facing. Not shocked about this revelation at all.”
Another user, @iamzaf, tweeted: “See! Biggest joke on the earth. Maeps pun tak tahu dekat mana! (No idea where MAEPS is!)”
Tunku Azizah last month sparked the #DengkiKe controversy, with the phrase, based on a comment she made on Instagram, becoming a top-trending hashtag on Twitter.
An Instagram user had asked whether chefs at the palace were already vaccinated against Covid-19 after the queen posted several pictures of dishes prepared by her and the kitchen team. Her comment in response was: “dengki ke? (are you jealous?)”
It came on the back of speculation that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and his family were among several Malaysian VIPs who received the Sinopharm vaccine – which had yet to be approved by Malaysia’s drug regulator – in the United Arab Emirates in January.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba rubbished reports on the matter, describing them as defamatory, and insisted there was no “hanky-panky” in the country’s vaccine procurement.
Nevertheless, Malaysians began using the hashtag #DengkiKe to express their dissatisfaction over how members of the royal household were allegedly inoculated before high-risk groups, and without going through due process.
Many posts bemoaned how ordinary citizens are often treated differently than those in power.
Artist-activist Fahmi Reza Mohd Zarin was arrested for publishing two playlists – one on Spotify and the other on Apple Music – titled “This Is Dengki Ke”.
He was brought to the Dang Wangi police station under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and Sedition Act 1948.
He was freed a day later after the authorities’ application for a four-day remand was rejected, and amid calls by various quarters for his release. – The Vibes, May 26, 2021
