[VIDEO 2:29 MINS]

Deputy Education Minister Mary Yap Kain Ching said language would not impede her from dealing with matters in the Chinese education system even if she is no great shakes at it.

“A lot of people assume that just because the problems related to the Chinese education system are in Mandarin, I don’t understand it,” she said today at a press conference during the Digital Education Show Asia 2013 at Hilton Kuala Lumpur.

NONE Yap ( left ), a fluent speaker of English and Bahasa Malaysia, neither reads nor writes Mandarin, but has a translator who keeps her abreast of the current issues in the Chinese newspapers, she said.

“It does not mean that just because I don’t speak Mandarin, I don’t know what’s going on in the Chinese community. I am kept informed.

“What is important is that I have people to assist and advise me on what has been reported by the Chinese press.”

She opined that many leaders around the world who do not speak English could still govern their nation effectively because they were backed by a strong team.

However, Yap said she would not apologise for not knowing Mandarin.

NONE “My background did not allow me to learn it as I didn’t have the opportunity,” she said.

Previously, the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) had expressed disappointment in having only a few Chinese representatives in the cabinet to resolve their problems.

They have also pointed out that they had a Chinese representative who did not speak Mandarin fluently.

During the press conference, when asked if her nomination was to represent the Chinese in the cabinet, Yap said no.

A Tawau parliamentarian, Yap expressed her disappointment at how she was viewed as a Chinese member of the cabinet and not as a representative of the people.