A pig's head drawn on the breakfast vouchers of 344 Chinese tourists in Malaysia might have been to distinguish them from nonpork-eating Muslims and was not meant to cause offense, the Malaysian consul general in Hong Kong said Wednesday.

The tourists staged a protest Tuesday at the First World hotel in the Genting Highlands resort. They wanted to express their anger about the "demeaning" pig heads drawn on their meal vouchers.

Abdul Aziz bin Harun, Malaysia's consul general in Hong Kong, said the incident was more than likely a misunderstanding.

"The summer has been a high season for Muslim travelers, my good guess is the hotel staff were using the sketch to distinguish hala (Muslim) diners from non-halal diners," Aziz said at the launch of a Chinese-language Web site to promote Malaysian tourism.

"But as the hotel staff speak only English and Malaysian, while the tourists speak Mandarin or Cantonese, communication has broken down," Aziz said.

The protest escalated into a scuffle when police and security guards arrived with guns and dogs.

The incident was eventually resolved five hours later after the hotel offered a letter of apology and each tourist between 50 and 100 Malaysian Ringgit (US$13.37 and 26.74) in the presence of a Chinese embassy official.

Malaysian Deputy Tourism Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the hotel had fired the three workers involved in the incident.

"We are very regretful things have to happen that way because we value very much Chinese tourists," said Malaysian tourism board director Noridah Kamarudin.

Aziz said the incident would not tarnish Malaysia's image. "Racism is not an issue there. It is an isolated case. It is not the policy of the Malaysian Government or the hotel."