I Am Grateful That I Understand Malay Language

PUTRAJAYA (April 14, 2009) : Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today his statements over the coalition's loss in Bukit Gantang had been twisted and misrepresented by some vernacular newspapers, causing him to be criticised by various quarters.

Speaking to reporters after taking office as the new education minister today, Muhyiddin denied saying that Chinese voters were ungrateful to the Barisan Nasional

He lashed out at the irresponsible reporting, saying: “If they don’t understand the Malay language, then we can send them back to school.”

Muhyiddin said all he meant was why the Chinese voters looked as if they did not appreciate BN and vote for the ruling coalition in the recent Bukit Gantang by-election, as it was his sincere desire to know what happened.

He added that he wanted to analyse the situation (on the defeat) and not as reported in the media.
“I did not call the Chinese ungrateful,” he said.

“My statements were twisted and (I was) misquoted,” he added, referring to the newspapers who published several follow-up articles based on Muhyiddin’s interview with Mingguan Malaysa last week.

Muhyiddin said he had only wanted to know why the Chinese community’s confidence (in BN) was not shown in the ballot boxes and he had said it only within the confines of the by-election’s result.

It was reported in the media early this week that Muhyiddin said the Chinese voters were ungrateful by not voting for BN even though the government had assisted the community in many ways.

The statements drew sharp responses from the Chinese community, particularly from Gerakan and MCA.

Gerakan’s deputy president Datuk Chang Ko Youn was quoted in the media as disagreeing with Muhyiddin while MCA’s response was to list down a list of issues that could have caused the Chinese community to turn away from the BN. --- Sun2Surf


Compare with the original text from Utusan Malaysia titled ' Kuasa Penentu Melayu Hilang Jika Terus Berpecah ' : -

Tetapi bukankah setiap kali pilihan raya kecil, permintaan kaum bukan Melayu dipenuhi, malah di Bukit Gantang walaupun peruntukan RM1juta diberikan tetapi kaum Cina tidak juga menyokong BN?

MUHYIDDIN: Ya, kadang-kadang kita berasa terpedaya juga kerana zahirnya nampak macam 'ok', sambutan dengan tepukan gemuruh tetapi mungkin sudah ada tertanam dalam hati iaitu sesuatu tidak mudah hendak berubah, pokoknya masalah isu Perak terutamanya di kalangan masyarakat Cina yang mungkin telah dipengaruhi dengan sentimen simpati kepada Datuk Seri Ir.Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin, kononnya dia 'dijatuhkan', lepas itu kononnya dasar memberi pegangan tanah selama 99 tahun dilihat dasar yang menguntungkan.

Ini yang mungkin menyebabkan sukar BN mendapat sokongan walaupun kita fikir bila mereka hendak sekolah Cina dibantu, kita bantu, sepatutnya mereka membalas budi. Pada waktu itu, kita pun tidak berharap sokongan kaum Cina akan meningkat 40 peratus dan sebagainya cuma kita berharap ada peningkatan sedikit tetapi apa yang berlaku ia mencatatkan penurunan, macam tidak ada penghargaan terhadap apa yang kita lakukan.

Oleh itu kita kena kaji psikologi apa yang menyebabkan masyarakat Cina tidak bersedia untuk berubah, pada zaman dahulu tidak begitu. --- Utusan Malaysia

Whenever there are someone criticized on the leader, the first thing they do is not review on their own problem. Besides, they will try to blame the media. Chinese media is the first one who suffer. No matter MCA leader or UMNO leader. Both also blame them for twisting their words. Is the quality of our chinese media really that bad?　Or people just like to make excuses by blaming the media ?

This time, is the turn for our deputy prime minister -- Muhyiddin. He denied that he did not call Chinese ungrateful. So, ' macam tidak ada penghargaan ' maksud 'seolah-olah tidak menghargai' does not mean 'tidak menghargai'. Macam 'macam' is the only word that Muhyiddin trying to emphasize?

When you try to blame the chinese media, please beware that , among all the chinese community and some of the Malay friends and Indian friends they have study Mandarin. They can understand what you says which has recorded and broadcast on the TV. All of us will judge on what did you said in the first and early stage. It is no need to denied or argue with where all of us know the 'truth' . It is not the first time they denied on the remarks they made earlier and i don't think it would be the last time.