MITI minister Tengku Zafrul addresses concerns over World Expo Osaka issue

The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI)'s Tengku Zafrul Aziz has addressed concerns surrounding the World Expo 2025 controversy, in a parliamentary reply in response to a question posed by Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng. 

This comes two weeks after the ministry was served a letter of demand by Current Media Group (CMG), a creative consultancy which claimed that MITI stole its concept for the Expo's Malaysian Pavilion without providing recognition or payment. 

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Zafrul said in his reply, that the ministry has completed its internal investigations, and assured that it is currently engaged in active discussions with CMG in order to ensure "the matter is resolved amicably between both parties". 

He added further that: "This is crucial to ensure Malaysia’s participation in Expo 2025 Osaka, Japan is not affected, that the momentum achieved so far is maintained, and that all objectives of Malaysia’s participation in the Expo are successfully met."

According to the minister, the appointment and involvement of all stakeholders, including consultants, contractors, and service providers, for the development of the Malaysia Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka went through an established evaluation and selection process, in accordance with government procurement procedures.

"Learning from this issue, MITI will continue to strengthen its internal guidelines as needed, especially to enhance control over all aspects of partner selection, particularly for high-impact projects that represent the nation on the international stage," said Zafrul, adding that:

MITI remains committed to ensuring that programmes and projects involving national interests are carried out with transparency, accountability, and integrity.

A+M has learned from CMG that a meeting with the ministry took place last week. 

On 17 July, CMG took legal action against MITI, issuing a formal letter of demand (LoD) after what the company says were more than two months of inaction on MITI’s promised investigation into alleged creative appropriation tied to the Malaysia Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka.

CMG claimed at the time, that since MITI’s statement about launching the investigation, the ministry made “no request for documents, interviews, or clarifications,” nor provided any substantive update on the investigation’s progress. The firm says it has “exhausted all informal avenues for dialogue,” leading it to instruct counsel to serve the LoD.

The day after the LoD was served, a ministry spokesperson said in a brief statement to A+M that it had concluded its internal investigations into the issue, and has contacted CMG to engage them further. However, the ministry did not share the findings of its inquiry.

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