Many, many years ago, I accompanied the director of enforcement in the Trade and Industry Ministry, (the late) Nik Salleh Nik Mat (of Nik’s Raiders fame), for a meeting with the Chinese Shoemakers Association. The enforcement unit had seized several hundred pair of shoes for application of false trade descriptions. It was chaired by the ministry’s parliamentary secretary (the late) Lew Sip Hon.
Ten minutes into the meeting, Nik Salleh interjected and told Lew who was chairing the meeting something to this effect: “YB, if this meeting continues like this, I am going to go back. I don’t understand a word that’s being spoken.”
The meeting started in Bahasa Malaysia and then English. But the participants began speaking in Chinese and it veered off course.
Lew apologised and order was restored. A few minutes later, someone spoke in Chinese. Nik Salleh picked up his files and walked out. Lew trotted out behind him and apologised profusely. Nik Salleh stood his ground and left. (He later told me that he would have understood if they spoke in Urdu. This was because he was one of the first Malaysians to be sent by the government to the world-renowned Lucknow University in India to further his studies).
These days, we don’t find many civil servants who are willing to stand up to their political masters. Well, that’s another issue, but at hand is the commotion and brouhaha over Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng issuing a trilingual press release on the bailout of the TRX (Tun Razak Exchange) project on June 21.
Let’s get the facts right. The original release was in Bahasa Malaysia and was translated to English for the local and foreign media. Since TRX and the ECRL (East Coast Rail Link) involves contractors and money from mainland China, it attracts its fair share of reporters from that country. It was translated into Chinese for their consumption as well as the local Chinese media. Such translations are common practice in the private sector so as to avoid any misinterpretation and the need to send an accurate message to its intended audience.
So up in arms went the “Friends of BN” on Facebook over the need to be trilingual. Guan Eng explained over his Facebook posting in Chinese, clarifying certain issues. (It was his personal account and not that of the government or the finance minister).
As if there are no more important issues confronting us, some prominent senior citizens joined in the chorus of protests demanding action be taken against Guan Eng under the Sedition Act. Among the 20-odd protesters were former inspector-general of police Hanif Omar, former Prisons director-general Zaman Khan and Abdul Aziz Rahman, the former Malaysia Airlines (MAS) head honcho. They gathered in front of the Putrajaya mosque on Friday and marched to the Ministry of Finance.
Hanif handed over a memorandum to the ministry – ‘Upholding the Malay Language in the Malaysian Government’s Administration’. Well done, sir! But where were you and the patriots of the language when a “bahasa asing” was frequently used by a minister in official government press conferences during the previous administration?
Other more important issues
Where were you when Hishammuddin Hussein, as acting transport minister, was providing daily updates (sometimes exclusively) in English on the disappearance of the flight MH370? Did not the nationalistic fervour on the use of bahasa asing rise every time you turned on the television and watched him speak English?
Now, you are walking the streets and causing agitation because Guan Eng used three languages? Did his actions undermine Bahasa Malaysia by using two other languages? In what way? Or you are only picking on him because it contained a release in Chinese? By your interpretation, English is also a bahasa asing.
If so, why was there pin-drop silence when the then deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was making a fool of himself at the United Nations? The delivery of his speech left much to be desired - faltering English and funny pronouncement of words?
Why was there no protest? Shouldn’t he have lived up to your expectations and spoken in the Malay language? It would have been simultaneously translated into all the six official languages of the UN, including English and Chinese.
Let this language issue rest as there are far more important issues to be addressed. Let the authorities handle the theft of billions from the state coffers and disposing the huge haul of valuables. There are more social issues that can be addressed by these senior people.
I have raised the issue of child brides over the years and how the majority use religion to circumvent the law. Such actions are supported by the religious men in kopiah and Arab robes. Doesn’t it ever occur to you that the next child bride could be your granddaughter or your grandniece?
While you carry your placards and thump your chests over the use of a certain language, don’t you even care about a 11-year-old who has been betrothed to someone who is fit to be her father? Does your “nationalistic” and “patriotic” fervour not extend to the children of Malaysia?
Enough is enough. For 61 years, this nation was divided by invisible walls called race, religion and creed. We are in a new era; stop wearing blinkers; get out of the coconut shell and help create a better Malaysia for our kids.
R NADESWARAN had previously held some of the protestors in high esteem. Time has come to review his stance. Comments: citizen.nades22@gamil.com - Mkini
Well said. It's indeed a storm in the tea cup.
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