YOURSAY ‘Isn't it seditious for Zahid to divulge sensitive information?’
CM mocks substandard language in Zahid's letter
2Kali5: I had a re-look at Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Language and construction aside, the letter starts with first party using "I" and in later part of letter writer uses third party "we".
The fact the writer signs off the letter with the title "Dr" preceding his name, which in this case is a PhD, is embarrassing.
Though the writer is using the Home Ministry's letter head, he signs off with his name and does not denote his position, presumably to denote that he is writing in his personal capacity.
If that be the case, isn't it seditious to divulge sensitive information?
Guns 'n' Roses: I must admit that I was equally flabbergasted as Penang CM Lim Guan Eng (LGE) was upon reading Zahid's letter to the deputy director of the FBI, Mark F Guiliano.
I was actually rather astounded at the poor command of the English language that a federal home minister had employed, in particular, the use of the word 'plausible'.
(“Upon written requests by his Malaysian and American legal team, they have asked me to write to you directly as they have been made to understand that your department may be looking into Mr Phua’s plausible involvement with the Chinese transnational organised crime organisation named ‘14K Triad’ in Malaysia.”)
Surely the Malaysian minister had meant 'possible' rather than 'plausible'.
And this was supposedly an official 'letter of support' for an alleged international criminal from a federal minister of a sovereign state, Malaysia, to the deputy director of a United States federal department, the FBI.
I personally feel that we, Malaysians, have good reason to be ashamed of the Manglish (mangled English) employed by the so-called home minister.
Tok Karut: LGE, it is rather petty to look at Zahid's language, albeit as a minister he should have had better advice on his action from lawyers and a person conversant in English and Bahasa Malaysia.
Why did he act on his own? Umno should begin disciplinary action as is usual in the ordinary course of the day.
I would like to think that you, LGE, should now look into matters of a breach of integrity of the nation and a censorship of the home minister in Parliament.
LifeFlier: LGE, it is not about the language, it is about the integrity of home minister. Please live up to our expectations, both as the visionary CM and respected MP.
Leave this petty issue for sensible Malaysian to judge and mock, your time is much needed in how to solve issues such as affordable housing, road infrastructure, enhance your skilled labour supply and job creation, what you have prepared Penang for impending macro-economic issues due to inflation, rising interest rate, depreciation of ringgit, and better still, if you can treat these as silver lining, to attract more foreign investors to Penang.
FellowMalaysian: Dear CM Lim, please forgive the home minister for his poor English as he was brought up in an environment which place scan interest in English.
In fact, I believe the generations that went to schools since 1980s has had little opportunity to learn English as the educationists felt the language serves little importance.
Zahid could have refused the service of a script writer because he had wanted the FBI head to 'realise and appreciate' that it was him and no one else who wrote to him.
Yes, he was hoping that his command of English, or what’s left of it, would authenticate his appeal.
Anonymous_1419577444: Yes, LGE is silly for being so petty. He should continue to make sure that this whole saga is properly investigated.
But I still cannot help but agree with LGE that the letter is atrocious, coming from the government of Malaysia. My Standard 3 Bahasa Inggeris teacher would have flown into rage and caned me for writing such a horrible English letter.
Vijay47: I think that when Lim Guan Eng queried on the authenticity of Zahid's most charitable letter and commented on the standard of English reflected in it, he was merely being sarcastic and had reduced the whole issue to an elemental level to add to the irony.
While Zahid may have assumed Mother Teresa attributes in caring for a fellow citizen of dubious character facing the beckoning comforts of Sing Sing prison, I don't think Guan Eng is particularly bothered about Zahid's political or personal well-being.
Viewed as a whole, Guan Eng's comments sneer at Umno and more than hint of glee. Not that anyone would blame him.
Starwars: Every aspect of the letter is shrouded in mystery and even more serious is the fact that the home minister, who is in charge of the police, is seen to be colluding with a criminal.
Somewhere along the line somebody has made big money for procuring the letter from the minister for the alleged filthy-rich criminal.
Going by what the minister has done, it is clear that Malaysia is for sale and the sale here is done by the Malays themselves - one being Zahid and the other being lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
This is a clear case of ‘Harapkan pagar jaga padi, tapi pagar makan padi’. What Umno don’t realise is that the more it rely on Shafee, the more Shafee will try to make money by making use of the government.
Hplooi: Let’s be reminded that Zahid enjoys 'rock-star' status amongst the Umno members. And he receives the highest number of votes as one of the vice-presidents in Umno.
Does that tell you about the type of members in Umno? If the peninsular Malays cannot even gauge the morality, not to mention the competency, of their leader they chose to 'adulate' then they deserve another 100 years of servitude.
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