The launch of the Penang senior citizen appreciation programme brochure today had to be postponed after reporters pointed out it had several language errors.

NONE Errors included spelling and grammatical mistakes which were too glaring to ignore.

Planned as a side event before lunch at the state assembly, a visibly upset Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, when informed about the boo-boo, declined to go ahead with the session.

"How could you make such a mistake?" demanded Lim, who questioned his staff in front of reporters at the event.

The session was earlier planned to promote the programme, which begun early this year, as part of the state's gratitude to all senior citizens, regardless of race, religion, social standing or political affiliation.

About 30,000 copies of the brochures were printed to explain to Penangites the rationale behind the programme.

It was also meant to convince the public that the RM100 was not a bribe but a token of appreciation to the elders of the state.

Over 80,000 senior citizens have so far received their cheques.

Lim later said that the launch of the four-language brochure will be postponed so that it can be reprinted without errors.

In an immediate response, communications director Yap Lee Ying apologised to Lim.

"The officials involved have been reminded to exercise due care and avoid such mistakes in future," said Yap, in a press statement to the media.

"In line with CAT (Clean, Accountable and Transparent) principles, those responsible will incur the cost of reprinting the pamphlets to ensure that the government does not suffer any losses from their mistakes," she added.

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