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The luxury mall in the heart of Kuala Lumpur has been criticised by some Malaysians recently after photos of its pagoda-like decoration went viral on social media.
Last week, Facebook page Malaysia Shopping Mall posted three photos of the decoration and attracted netizens’ attention.
Many Facebook users likened the decoration to joss paper houses that the Chinese community burn during the Qing Ming festival, which falls on 5 April this year.
The festival is also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, a commemorative day where believers come together to pay respect to their ancestors.
Joss paper money, treasure chests, and luxury mansions and cars, among others, are often burnt to serve as an offering to the people who have passed on.
Both Chinese New Year and the Qing Ming festival are opposing in nature, as the former is an auspicious celebration while the latter is often a dreary observance.
“Suria KLCC, it is time for you to fire your marketing department along with their designers who design this. Laziness is not an excuse. Uncultured is also not an excuse too. [It’s] very easy these days to just Google to learn and understand something,” commented a Facebook user.
Another person said, “When [it] comes to festive decoration, please get consulted with some Chinese people or do more research before coming out such [an] idea, sayang. No offense, but [it’s] truly ugly, and it didn’t bring out any feeling of Chinese New Year, more like [the] feeling of Qing Ming.”
Several netizens said the mall can keep the decoration until the Qing Ming festival in April.
Some wondered whether the decoration is sponsored by Nirvana, a local funeral services company.
A couple of Facebook users claimed Suria KLCC must have faced a budget constraint because other local malls have built stunning pagoda-like structures, but they are not made out of paper-like material.
Suria KLCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.