KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 — A post of a video by production company Les’ Copaque depicting the animated character Fizi apologising to fellow characters Upin and Ipin was the most popular tweet in Malaysia this year, said Twitter in a compilation released yesterday.
The post from June 2, featuring the hit Malaysian television series, has since garnered over 103,000 retweets and 159,000 likes.
“Upin and Ipin fans loved it, and their reactions varied — some replied to comfort Fizi, others Retweeted to spread Fizi’s message and his apology, and others simply Liked the Tweet to show their appreciation. In total, this was the most Retweeted and Liked Tweet of the year, and Malaysians appreciated it,” said Twitter in a statement yesterday.
Fizi dah minta maaf 🙏
Upin dan Ipin pun dah maafkan 🥰 pic.twitter.com/yWOKJnpYNb— Les’ Copaque (@lescopaque) June 2, 2020
The video was issued in response to public outcry after the character had made a statement that was deemed insensitive during the show’s Hari Raya episode.
The second most engaging tweet for the year was by user Iman (@imancullen_), which showed a letter his sister received from Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Noor Hisham was replying to Lara Khadijah after she had sent him a bracelet and a note thanking him for his hard work.
The post from April has been retweeted more than 78,000 times and received more than 93,000 likes.
So my lil sister wrote a letter for Dr Hisham and sent it to his office. Then today got a whatsapp message with this pic of the official surat, Dr Hisham punya reply to my lil sis. He is so humble and I respect him a lot with what his contributions for our country. pic.twitter.com/IfXMRNaIDH
— iman (@imancullen_) April 17, 2020
In third place was a tweet by the Health director-general himself, who admonished Malaysians for not following standard operating procedures (SOP) in accordance with Health Ministry guidelines to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.
Malaysians attempting to help Dr Noor Hisham spread the message gave the post over 76,000 likes and retweets.
Sudah terang lagi bersuluh setiap hari Kementerian Kesihatan mengingatkan rakyat Malaysia untuk patuh kepada SOP untuk penjarakan selamat sekurang-kurangnya 1 meter, memakai pelitup separuh muka dan kerap cuci tangan. Sedih bila melihat keadaan begini tiada kawalan kendiri.
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) July 28, 2020
Other popular posts highlighted in Twitter’s compilation included a snippet of a speech by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin by user @pzullicious, and a video of a funny conversation between an uncle and a child by @seketulakasah.
Habis la PM tahu apa korang buat kat rumah pic.twitter.com/ImA5WR4XUO
— 🌕 (@pzullicious) April 6, 2020
bodolah member aku game budak ni 😭😭😭🤣👆🏼 pic.twitter.com/OPQeab2Ue8
— Kasyehhhh ➐ (@seketulakasah) February 26, 2020
Twitter noted that in its compilation, it did not feature more than one tweet per account and did not consider tweets that offer rewards in exchange for followers or retweets.
Meanwhile, #covid19 was the most popular hashtag used on Twitter this year, with the tag tweeted over 400 million times globally. Other popular hashtags in Malaysia included #dudukrumah, #kitajagakita, #newprofilepic, #itsokaytonotbeokay, #jomkita and #spm2019.
“From stating the simple fact of what affected everything this year (#covid19) to the various ways that Malaysians dealt with the new normal as they shifted over time (#dudukrumah, #kitajagakita and #jomkita), hashtags reflected what Malaysians were thinking about and how they were coping with everything going on,” said Twitter.