Where Is the Pig In Malaysia's Year of the Pig Celebration?

This week, billions of people across the globe are celebrating the Lunar New Year. Goodbye Year of the Dog, hello Year of the Pig. Yet there is one place where pigs seem unwelcome—Malaysia.

Ahead of this year's celebration, the government said that there would be no ban on images of pigs in public places. Such a statement is a pretty big deal in a country where the majority of the population are Muslim, and pigs are considered "unclean." In the past, Malaysia has bent over backward to not let pig imageries to infiltrate the mainstream. It banned the Oscar-winning film Babe when it came out in 1995. In 2014, when pictures of piglets made it to the International edition of the New York Times, the government had them blacked out before the papers were delivered to the newsstands.

In supposedly "New," and more progressive Malaysia, though, pigs are still somewhat of a taboo. Last month, this picture of festive zodiac t-shirts with the pig left out, that were sold in a supermarket chain with over 100 stores in Malaysia, was all people talked about. And after walking in and out of several malls with massive Lunar New Year decorations in Kuala Lumpur, I found only one with a hint of the animal.

Speaking on behalf of the Malaysian Shopping Malls Association, Chan Hoi Choy said the government’s statement showcases the civility of this "New Malaysia." But, he continued, it is not “necessary” to use the zodiac sign in decorations at the 200 malls that the association represents.

1 Utama Shopping Centre—which bills itself as the 7th largest mall in the world and where it's really easy to get lost while looking for pig decorations—the main attraction is a display of ginormous flower arrangements reaching from the ground floor to the Starbucks by the 3rd-floor escalator. If you get close enough, you can spot a handful of tiny geodesic shapes with cartoon pig faces in the shadows of the giant bouquets. These “piggy banks” are seemingly a cultural middle ground for a citizenry that is prone to dramatic displays of outrage.

“We don't want to create any hoohaa," said 1 Utama general manager Patrick So regarding their decision to downplay the porcine elements in their Lunar New Year decorations. Which is probably a good call, because hoohaa abounds in Malaysia.

Similarly last year, Year of the Dog celebrations in Malaysia were conspicuously absent of any canines in an effort to avoid offending the sensibilities of the Muslim majority in the country. Dogs, too, are seen as unclean in Islam, and some Malaysians have a reputation for what can be accurately labeled as “hypersensitivity” when it comes to their faith. Even the pretzel chain Auntie Anne's caved in and renamed their pork-free "Pretzel Dog" to "Pretzel Sausage" after pressure from the country's halal authorities. And just last month, a review of a Spanish restaurant in their in-flight magazine caused Malaysia Air trouble. The review in question featured a photo of a wagyu beef dish that some misidentified as pork, which forced the airline to issue a series of apology tweets for "promoting pork" in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Hoohaa indeed.

It seems like for all the claims of this New Malaysia, some things remain the same, and brands continue to tread lightly when it comes to imageries of animals and religion. I bet they can hardly wait for the Year of the Rat.