'Ah Jib Gor' live interview on NTV7 this Monday

KUALA LUMPUR- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will appear live on a local Chinese television news programme next Monday to talk about current issues.

Political Secretary to the Prime Minister Wong Nai Chee said Najib, popularly known as “Ah Jib Gor” in his Chinese Facebook account, would appear on the live interview entitled ‘A talk with the prime minister’ for an hour. It will be broadcast by the NTV7 channel at 8.30pm on April 9.

"Basically it is another direct outreach by the Prime Minister where the people can see him speak sincerely on the issues affecting the Chinese and economy of the country, as well as education and other issues that concern the Chinese community," he said when contacted by Bernama.

He said the interview was part of the constant engagement of the Prime Minister with the people apart from his scheduled official engagements.

"The public can send their question through SMS or email. The details will be announced by the station itself through their channel," he added.

This will be the second time Najib is live-interviewed by a local private television station. The first being on TV3's Soal Jawab programme.

Previously, he also appeared in a One FM interview on June 23, 2011, which was also broadcast by NTV7.

During that interview, the Prime Minister brought along his youngest son Nor Ashman, who is proficient in Mandarin, and touched on issues such as housing and education.

Recently, he also appeared on a live interview on local Chinese radio station 988 FM, talking about issues such as the setting up of the Lynas rare earth plant in Pahang and the MRT alignment in Jalan Sultan, Kuala Lumpur.

Najib said the Government would not allow the Lynas rare earth project in Gebeng, Pahang, to operate if it harms the health of the people and environment and that the government was prepared to declare buildings affected by the MRT project in Jalan Sultan as heritage sites.

He also made two important announcements related to Chinese education where he said more Mandarin teachers would be trained to solve a long-standing shortage.

One of the steps was to empower headmasters to hire temporary teachers directly as well as replacing non-Mandarin speaking teachers and counsellors in Chinese vernacular with those who are fluent in Mandarin.

-- BERNAMA