Umno MP blames MIC for Thaipusam banner blooper
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 – Umno’s Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor apologised today to the ethnic Indian community here for a social slip in a Thaipusam banner, which he blamed on MIC members and workers from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
The banners in Putrajaya, which bore a celebratory greeting to Hindus for Thaipusam, had apparently been wrongly translated in Tamil and sported spelling mistakes, stirring negative reactions from the local Tamil-literate community in the federal administrative territory.
“My intention was genuine, in wanting to include Tamil in the banners as well. We did it in a rush and I was away at the time. So we asked BN and MIC members to help translate and write the Tamil parts,” the Putrajaya MP (picture) was quoted as saying by Bernama Online today.
“It looks like they’re not well versed in the language. I apologise for the mistake. Next time we’ll ask those who are experts,” added the Umno secretary-general.
The banner that had been hung up in Putrajaya yesterday has since been removed.
This is not the first time the BN government has botched official translations, whether on banners or its websites.
A banner welcoming Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to Malaysia during an official visit in Putrajaya last year had also created much national embarrassment.
The message on the banner read, in Chinese: “Official welcoming ceremony, with him Wen Jiabao His Excellency’s official visit Malaysia.”
It appeared to be a literal translation of a sentence in BahasaMalaysia: “Istiadat Sambutan Rasmi Sempena Lawatan Rasmi TYT Wen Jiabao Ke Malaysia” (Official welcoming ceremony in conjunction with the official visit of His Excellency Wen Jiabao to Malaysia.)
Officials at the Ministry of Defence too sported red faces last December after an English-language translation of their section on permitted attire at its offices went viral on social media.
