Peeved at the BN and its "controlled" English mainstream media for alleging he ran down Malaysia to Hong Kong investors, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said his detractors should instead focus on their “vocabulary”.

"They should instead take English tuition lessons to improve their vocabulary.

"How can I get foreign investors to come to Penang if I run down my own country as Penang is part of Malaysia?" he asked.

It is learnt that Lim is very upset about the recent news that he had tarnished the country’s image during his trip, where he met the Penang diaspora in Hong Kong.

NONE He urged his detractors to "stop their ridiculous and malignant lies" he did that in the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) mission from Sept 3 to 5.

Yesterday, his special advisor on investment Lee Kah Choon ( left ) defended his boss, saying that Lim merely addressed the perception held by the group he was speaking to.

Lim explained that this group of people are from Penang but now working, studying or residing in Hong Kong.

A text of the speech had been released to the media on Sept 5.

In the speech, Lim stated, among other things, that there were four real problems in Malaysia - "crime, corruption, rise in indebtedness of governments and individual households, as well as declining educational standards, productivity and skills of the Malaysia labour force”.

He had noted that in Hong Kong, many investors and analysts had identified the four issues that made it less attractive or competitive to invest in Malaysia.

Lim urged the "BN media" to reprint the original text of his speech, which as they had not done so but only published articles  "attacking" him.

"I regret that the standard of English has deteriorated to such an alarming rate that both the BN federal government ministers and BN-controlled English media have such a poor command of the vocabulary, that they do not understand the meaning of the word ‘diaspora’," Lim added.

Related stories

Meritocracy key to bridging NUS-UM gap, says Karpal

Better English teachers needed, says think-tank

'Audio recording proves Seri Pristana HM didn't apologise'

Who's lying over Seri Pristana HM's 'apology'?