With eye on Umno polls, Khairy, Khaled slam Guan Eng over use of Mandarin

Bede Hong Bede Hong Updated 5 years ago · Published on 25 Jun 2018 1:49PM · 3 Comments

TWO Umno leaders, with an eye on party polls this weekend, have hit out at Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for issuing government statements in Mandarin.

Khairy Jamaluddin, who has thrown his hat in the ring for the party presidency race, said the use of Mandarin in government statements was “indefensible” and out of the “norm”.

“This is not just a matter of challenging them to use the official language of the Federation, but this has ruined efforts to unite the nation under a common language,” he said in a statement today.

The Finance Ministry has begun issuing statements in Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin soon after Guan Eng was appointed minister last month.

Khairy said it is not his intention to bar the use of other languages in Malaysia because that is an individual right. 

“However the federal government must be an example to uphold the use of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language,” said the former Umno youth chief.

Johor Umno chief Mohamed Khaled Nordin, who is eyeing one of the three vice-presidents’ posts, expressed “regret” with the Finance Ministry’s move. 

 “That action is very rude, insulting and demeans the position of the Malay language, which is a foundational matter not just in the Federal Constitution, but in all government matters and practices.”

Khaled said the matter had “indirectly invited the wrath and unease” of the public and said it was an example of Lim’s “arrogance”.

“To make matters worse, he (Lim) said just after his appointment as Finance Minister, ‘I am not Chinese, I am Malaysian,” Khaled said, calling those comments a “political gimmick”.

Khaled also referred to a statement Lim issued in Mandarin only yesterday that said “Dropping the use of Malay is not an option at all.”

“If he is not fluent, or unsure about the meaning or usage of Malay, YB Lim Guan Eng can always obtain the service of government agencies such as Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka or the Malaysian Institute of Translation & Books,” Khaled added. – June 25, 2018.

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Comments

  • whats the fuss about
    we want to communicate with the chinese in their lingua franca
    so they get the message without any distortion from translation
    i think even till today the english version of the constitution prevails

    Posted 5 years ago by Satkunabalan Sabaratnam · Reply

  • Both the K&K are idiots who are now turning to any things that is racial in content to win their position in UMNO which by the way is a party maintaining the status quo of non changes or reforms and the usual empty rhetorics of "pertahankan agama bangsar dan negara slogan". It is a fact that Umno is going to be history as their tail end BN is almost gone. So Khairy and Khaled-- do something useful and have a good early retirement or just wait when it comes a knocking on your door in late night or early morning hours on any charges that is being investigated now. Stop falling back on your failing party to gain strength and support.

    Posted 5 years ago by Lee Lee · Reply

  • The UMNO racists are now against Chinese language used by over 1.4 billion human beings. To them to promote Bahasa Malaysia no other languages can be used. They live in 1970 and are ignorant that it is the United Nations convention that it is the basic human right to study and to use language of mother tongue. How can anybody believe that Kairy intends to open UMNO to all Malaysians to serve Malaysians. He only wants non-Malays' votes to get into in power!

    Posted 5 years ago by Meng Kow Loh · Reply