KUALA LUMPUR – Employers in all sectors should use Bahasa Malaysia when conducting interviews with job candidates in order to uphold the national language, said Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Awang Hashim.
“Bahasa Malaysia is the national language, so we must use it in all sectors except for investors who do not understand Bahasa Malaysia, they can use English,” he said in Dewan Rakyat this morning.
“If we are Malaysian, we must be loyal to Malaysia. We must use Bahasa Malaysia as the national language as enshrined in the federal constitution.”
Awang, who is Pendang MP, said this in response to a supplementary question by Cha Kee Chin (Rasah-PH) who asked Awang about his personal view on the use of English during interviews.
Cha was also referring to an incident involving Awang, in which the latter insisted on the use of Bahasa Malaysia when answering questions posed by journalists.
On Sunday, Awang and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Idris Ahmad sparked controversy after a verbal confrontation with a female reporter went viral on social media.
During the incident, Minderjeet Kaur of Free Malaysia Today was chastised by the two politicians after she posed a question in English instead of Bahasa Malaysia.
The reporter had wanted to ask about the rationale behind the Kedah government’s move to ban lottery outlets in future.
However, Idris – who is also PAS vice-president – had sidetracked query and questioned the reporter instead.
Idris had also asked the reporter whether she would allow her husband to be a habitual gambler, while Awang had insisted she use Bahasa Malaysia when posing questions.
Yesterday, V. Sivakumar (Batu Gajah-PH) urged Idris to apologise over the incident, but the minister had brushed it aside, saying: “There was no element of any provocative nature at all.” - The Vibes, November 17, 2021
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