When Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man delivered his speech in Malay on the stage of an international conference last month, the environment and water minister received praise and criticism in equal measure from local commentators
Even so, Sahabat Alam Malaysia president Meenakshi Raman told Malaysiakini that in the rush to uphold the national language, a key detail was ignored.
Meenakshi claimed that there was no direct translation when Tuan Ibrahim spoke on Nov 10 at the 26th Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), known as COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland.
“That's right. Because in the United Nations (UN), Bahasa Malaysia is not recognised as an official language,” she explained when asked to comment on Tuan Ibrahim's speech.
“So when you go to the UNFCCC-COP 26 to speak, you can speak in Bahasa Malaysia, but you have to have your own translator.
“You have to pay or bring your own translator. Don't expect the UN to provide one,” she said.
“I understand that when President Jokowi went to COP26, the translation took place. He spoke in Indonesian, but there was a live translation when he spoke,”
said Meenakshi, who was also present as a delegate from civil society organisations at the conference.
The COP26 summit brought together more than 192 countries that have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in the presence of more than a hundred world leaders, from Oct 30 to Nov 12.
Among the world leaders present at the opening ceremony of COP26 on Nov 1 were UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to Meenakshi, it is the responsibility of the Environment and Water Ministry to prepare a translator for the minister.
"It is not wrong for Tuan Ibrahim to speak in Bahasa Malaysia. But there must be a direct translation when speaking.
"The translation of Tuan Ibrahim's speech is in a hard copy. His speech was distributed (to the delegation)," she said when met by Malaysiakini in Penang recently.
Reps speak the language of their respective countries
Meenakshi further clarified that she was not sure whether the text of Tuan Ibrahim's speech was distributed before or after the minister spoke but emphasised that direct translation when speaking was an important aspect.
"To me, that is not enough because if you want other countries to understand while listening to your speech, there must be an interpreter provided," she added.
It has become a practice when leaders from countries that do not speak the official language of the UN, they will bring their own translators or hire the services of interpreters.
Tuan Ibrahim, on Nov 26, explained why he spoke in Malay in Glasgow, saying, "there is no issue with the language because there is a translation."
"There are things that I noticed at COP26 about the use of language. Each (state representative) gets up to speak his or her language.
"Indonesia was speaking her language. Korean with her language, Turkish with her language, Arabic with her language and so on.
"I want to speak in Bahasa Malaysia," he said in a post on FB.
Elaborating further, Tuan Ibrahim said his speech received "a positive response from Malaysians."
"It is time we are proud of our own language which is commonly called the language of the nation's soul," he said.
In his speech, Tuan Ibrahim said the country aimed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through "updating the National Specified Contribution (NDC) and net-zero GHG emission aspirations as early as 2050."
Meanwhile, the UNFCC media office, when contacted by Malaysiakini, explained that the conference organisers were "not in a position" to say whether the COP26 delegation understood Tuan Ibrahim's speech or not.
Even so, UNFCC media and public information assistant Carrie Assheuer said, "there are six official UN languages: Arabic, Mandarin, English, French, Russian and Spanish."
"UNFCCC provides translations for official meetings in all six official languages," she said via email yesterday.
Malaysiakini has contacted Tuan Ibrahim and the Ministry of Environment and Water regarding this matter and is awaiting feedback. - Mkini
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