Point is, Zahid ‘manglished’ our image at the UN stage

Syed Saddiq raps critics of Zahid’s English speaking skills

Vijay47: You are so right, Bersatu protem committee member Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, we should look at the substance and not the quality of the spoken language, we should look at the husband’s conduct and not at the size of the wife’s posterior.

Yes, we should encourage those who like the little train, try. To do otherwise would be crude and cruel. Under normal circumstances.

But when it comes to Umno and those associated with them, beings who strut about as though of divine or at least royal status, it accords us mortals devilish pleasure to give them a whack in any little way we can to bring them down a peg or two.

So we do not really shed tears of sympathy when Ahmad Zahid Hamidi or Rosmah Mansor or any of the many Umno folk get what they’ve got coming, such are the simple joys of life for us simple folk. Sure, you can colour us as mean, but what the heck, we really relish our occasional bits of sunshine.

You don’t score too well either, Syed Saddiq, not when you lament that at the UN, your hero Zahid did not touch on race and religion. Looks like you are of Umno stock after all.

Watan: When we perform a task, we must perform it precisely through effort and for result, not try our best and let’s see what happen.

It is not acceptable for us to perform poorly because we speak the language of our choice, the speech is not an occasion to show we try our best or to impress we speak English, but a stage to convey our message and project our image, imperfections is not permissible.

By saying speaking broken English is ‘okay’ instead of speaking one’s mother tongue, this shows we clearly have the mentality of ‘juara kampung’, that is preparing ourselves to lose. A common weakness among us.

Existential Turd: “A person who struggles to speak in English should be respected and assisted.” Well, that depends on who that person is, isn’t it?

If you are a 12-year-old, then we respect his/her struggles, but if he is a 60+ year old DPM, sorry, how many more years do you need to struggle? Proton struggling after 30 years, respect? Malaysia struggling after 60 years, respect? Please don’t use struggles as a fig leaf to hide the ineptitude.

Kee Thuan Chye: Syed Saddiq misses the point. As DPM, Zahid should have a better command of English because he represents Malaysia in international gatherings. He should be able to speak English well. But as he is not, he deserves to be criticised.

It is embarrassing to have someone so high up in our leadership give a poor showing like Zahid did.

Syed Saddiq says Zahid should be credited for trying to speak English. But then Zahid shouldn’t be trying at this point in his political career, he should by now be fluent. Otherwise, it looks like he hasn’t tried hard enough to be better at speaking English all this while. That’s not something he can be excused for.

Anonymous 278451459939581: I totally support Saddiq’s defence of the DPM’s speech. His English was not ‘Oxford’ English, but no worse than the dozens of speakers who struggle with a language that is not native to them.

We should concentrate on the gist of his speech, which was just him reading a well-written story that was designed to sit well with the listeners. The UN delegates may believe him, but we Malaysians know bull when we hear it.

On a point of national pride, Next time – please use the national language, like the proud nations of the world – Russian, Chinese, Japanese, etc do.

OMG!: Even today, 59 years after independence, the choice of Bahasa Malaysia (BM) as the language of government, education and business (GEB) as well as the national language, explodes in our faces, as our DPM’s UN speech showed. It won’t end today or tomorrow.

English marches on as an international language as well as mankind’s heritage in thousands of literary works by geniuses, and the language of the English-speaking nations including the most powerful nation in history.

Singapore retained English for GEB and BM as the National Language. They are also decades ahead both in national unity, resilience and the economy.

About 600,000 English books published yearly vs 20,000 in BM. How many does Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka translate yearly? What will we be moaning about in 50 or 100 years from now?

We should retain BM as a compulsory National Language. But I predict dire times ahead for Malaysia and BM if it is also retained as the language of GEB. Who denies that it was done to assert the hegemony of one race over the others?

Anonymous #19098644: It is always preferable and good that the Malaysian representative at international bodies is fluent in English but given the opportunities that Zahid had, having limitations in this aspect is not critical.

What is the use if we have someone like Najib Abdul Razak and Jho Lho who were educated and are fluent in English and went to Nottingham University and Harrow respectively but allegedly have not a single honest bone in their body?

People who have allegedly brought shame, disgrace and ridicule to the country? Syed Saddiq has shown maturity for such a young man.

RCZ: Sometimes this boy thinks he is too smart. Enunciation and pronunciation are of utmost importance when a person is representing a country in the international arena eg the United Nations.

If he cannot even speak properly how is he to debate properly and put forward the country’s views? If he was most comfortable in speaking Bahasa, why didn’t he?

And one more thing why should he speak of country race and religion at the UN? He should only speak of country. This boy’s statements show his biased thinking. Are Bersatu members all like him?

Pakatan Harapan should beware of this type of thinking.

Legit: This again brings up the whole topic of the use of English in our education system. Malay is the national language and everybody should learn it, and learn it well. Unfortunately, that’s where it stops. It is not an international language and our leaders will embarrass themselves and the country if they are not capable of speaking and understanding proper English.

This is a fact of life and Malaysians especially the Malay literary figures have to accept it.

At least about four generations of Malaysians have been damaged because of their poor command of English caused by the haphazard education policy of the country over the last few decades. Face the facts, English language is not only here to stay but will continue to become the essential tool for the acquisition of knowledge and means of communication. There’s nothing anybody can do about it.

Mushiro: They don’t speak good English. The contents of their speech are not good. They don’t practice good governance. They dare not face newsmen freely. They dare not debate. They don’t live from an honest earning.

But they win elections by just scraping through a heavily rigged system. They are almost billionaires but by fraud. These are Malaysia’s alleged kleptocratic leaders.

Oscar Kilo: The problem is that the people do not believe the DPM meant what he said.

Jaycee: It’s okay. Not necessary to speak the Queen’s English so long as they look good in their Italian suits and shoes.

Oh, and let us not forget the expensive watch.

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