So what if not fluent in English, asks Bung Moktar
Umno man, in defending deputy premier Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over his UN speech in English, instead trains his guns on DAP leaders ‘who can’t speak Malay’.
Instead, he said, those who should be ridiculed were the ones who resided in Malaysia but were not well-versed in Bahasa Malaysia.
“What is the big deal about someone not being fluent in English? It is not even our language. There are plenty of great world leaders who are well respected, despite not speaking English.
“Those who should be ashamed of themselves are politicians, for instance, some from DAP, who can’t speak decent Malay. They are Malaysians only by name but can’t speak the national language,” the Kinabatangan MP told FMT today.
Bung was responding to recent criticisms against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahidi Hamidi over his “less than eloquent” speech in English at the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
At one point, Zahid even mistakenly referred to his boss as “President Najib Razak”.
Bung suggested that leaders who were not fluent in Malay should go for courses to better their command of the language.
Although some criticised Zahid’s English language ability, others said Zahid should be praised for making his speech in English, rather than “taking the easy way out” by speaking in Malay.
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