[Above: A sample of boxes containing foodstuff that the Armed Forces normally has for emergency situations.]

RATHER than let good food go to waste, Malaysia decided to donate boxes containing foodstuff to the Padang mayor for the earthquake victims.

But this act of goodwill seems to have not 'gone down well' with the Indonesian media, with two television stations claiming that Malaysia had donated "expired" food to the Padang quake victims.

Blogs and Twitterers have added fuel to the controversy by giving their own "accounts" of the episode.

A simple check on the foodstuff in the boxes, however, would clearly show these claims are unfounded.

A Malaysian official said that during the Royal Malaysian Air Force flights to evacuate some 300 Malaysian students in Padang last week, the military had loaded the plane with emergency food supplies to be given to Malaysians.

"The armed forces will normally have emergency supplies in boxes, including bottled water, tea, coffee, jam, biscuits and other foodstuff.

"Different products have different expiry dates. From time-to-time, the expiry dates of these products will be checked and any expired ones will be taken out, and a new sticker with the latest expiry date will be put on the boxes," he added.

The official further explained that stickers with the new expiry date had fallen off the boxes, leaving behind the old stickers with the expiry date of Dec 2008, which had not been removed.

"If you check the products in the boxes (sent to Padang), it will show that they will only expire in December 2009," said the official.

Another Malaysian official said the reports in the two television stations could potentially damage the good bilateral ties.

"There has been no official report lodged with the Malaysian Government but we are concerned over the influence of such media reports.

"We are trying to demonstrate the goodwill of Malaysians towards the Indonesian quake victims and all of the sudden, such an allegation appears," he added.

THE DAILY CHILLI