The Tourism Ministry has no plans to retract the Visit Malaysia 2020 logo, despite its design receiving a barrage of criticism from social media users.

Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz said the logo will continue to be used, as he sees no problem with the design.

“There are no issues with the logo, criticisms are normal. Malaysians will criticise anything, the only thing they won’t criticise is themselves, so I am not going to make any changes.

“I do not mind, it is normal for netizens to be like that. If I were to listen to them, they will not come to a consensus (on the logo) until 2020,” he said when contacted by Malaysiakini today.

The logo, bearing images of a cartoon orangutan, proboscis monkey and a turtle, has been widely criticised on social media over the quality of its design.

Nazri said the logo was received warmly when it was first launched in Thailand.

“We already launched (the logo) in Chiang Mai during the Asean Tourism Forum, and the logo was received well by the foreign press. That is what is important, not the locals.

“Because we are trying to attract foreigners to come to our country, they (foreigners) have no comment about the logo,” he said.

When asked about how much was paid for the logo, Nazri maintained that it was designed without any cost.

“We have in-house graphic designers, who have created posters for previous Visit Malaysia years, so we did not pay a single sen to a public relations company, not a single sen.

“Tourism Malaysia has more than 30 years of experience, so they (the in-house graphic designers) understand better,” he said.