PUTRAJAYA, April 24 — Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi has squashed the idea of holding a Doraemon exhibition as part of the promotion for Visit Malaysia Year 2020 (VMY 2020).

"If this matter is brought to me, I will not approve,” he said in a statement today.

He said National Art Gallery chairman Datuk Rashidi Hasbullah’s statement on the possibility of holding this exhibition was his personal opinion and not something that the ministry agreed to.

At a ceremony at KLIA2 on March 11, Rashidi reportedly proposed the holding of an art exhibition based on Doraemon comics in conjunction with VMY 2020 in view of the popularity of the Japanese animation series in the country.

"I have never approved any promotion involving this Japanese animation series and it is not part of our promotion at all,” Mohamaddin said.

He said that if he wanted to use animation characters for the VMY 2020 campaign, popular local comic characters would be more suitable than foreign ones. — Bernama