KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — The claim that the traditional delicacy ‘popiah’ originated from Indonesia and not Malaysia should not be blown out of proportion as it would not benefit both countries, an Indonesian leader said here today.

Irman Gusman, chairman of the House of Regional Representatives of Indonesia, said the demonstration on the matter in front of the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta was simply to promote the traditional delicacy ‘Lumpia Semarang’ as the republic’s heritage food.

“The ‘popiah’ issue is like a problem between a brother and sister involving only minor things and will not pose any problem because after that we will reconcile,” he said.

He spoke to reporters after calling on Dewan Negara president Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang at Parliament House here. Also present was the Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim.

Last Friday, a demonstration was held in front of the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta requesting Malaysia to retract a claim of ownership over the ‘popiah’ or ‘Lumpia Semarang’.

Earlier, Irman and 20 Indonesian delegates spent about two hours with Abu Zahar discussing various matters, including the strengthening of relations between the two countries especially in the fields of culture and education.

Irman said the two countries would continue to work together to attain international language status for the Indonesian-Malay language.

“This cultural relationship is important because the Indonesian-Malay language is spoken by almost 600 million people and it has the potential to become an international language,” he said. — Bernama