As Malaysians, fluency in the national language – Bahasa Melayu is not an option. It’s equally important to master your mother tongue but the national language should never be left behind.
A Datuk from Taiping, Perak recently was arrested for document forgery, and in court, he needed an interpreter who speaks the Hokkien dialect to translate for him. That’s because the Malaysian Datuk’ couldn’t speak Bahasa Melayu, English, and not even Mandarin.
Dato’ Lai was brought to Georgetown’s Magistrate Court yesterday for allegedly using false documents for court purposes.
The defendant submitted a deposit check certificate for an amount of RM300,000 during the hearing of a civil lawsuit at the Georgetown High Court in Penang on June 26, 2023. He also confirmed that he knew the evidence was forged, which violated Section 193 of the Penal Code and could be punished under that provision.
The court released Datuk Lai on a bail of RM4,000 with one surety, and the matter has been fixed for a re-mention on July 9 after the defended pleaded not guilty in court, reported BERNAMA. If convicted, Datuk Lai will face up to 7 years of prison sentence.
“The news mentioned that the defendant can’t speak BM, English or Chinese. Despite the language barrier, people today can still survive and get to become a Datuk. Brilliant.”
“Has he ever gone to school?”
“Did he graduate from a university that uses Hokkien as the main language?”
“Did he just migrate from the Hokkien district in China?”
“What’s this? Did he not attend primary school?”
“How much did he spend on his Dato-ship?”
“In Malaysia, throw a stone at anyone, and that person will turn out to be an influencer or a Datuk.”
“He can’t even understand the 3 main languages in Malaysia.”
“He can’t understand anything, and he got to be a Datuk?”
“You can expect to hear anything in Malaysia. Did he get to be a Datuk even without the fluency of the 3 main languages? Fantastic.”
We can’t help but wonder, how does someone survive by relying on just 1 dialect that not everyone speaks and understands?
Also read: “Been here for 20 years” – English Uncle Speaks Fluent BM When Visiting Penang Nasi Kandar Outlet
