English Lesson Straight from the Papers....

I always tell people don't read the newspapers or watch Malaysian TV programmes if you want to improve your English.

And even programmes from Singapore do have the occassional blooper.

But this article from the Star was a bad attempt at implying something that was not actually said.

The paragraph read

"Lim had also said that the NEP, which was introduced in 1971 after the May 13, 1969, racial riots to eradicate poverty and restructure society, was the source of “cronyism, corruption and inefficiency.” "

It was pretty sharp of the new government in Penang to pick out the inference and a protest was made to Bernama who have since apologised.

If you had watched the TV segment and read the article, the majority of folks would not notice the difference between the two and I too had not paid attention to the newspaper article.

Yes this paragraph is incorrect and mischievous. If they wanted to give the background details, the NEP info should have been placed in a different paragraph.

The weakness of the NEP could have been mentioned and it would be fair to say that most of the Malaysians who voted for the DAP/PKR/PAS coalition share the same sentiments.

What of the Bernama apology? It should have been a front page apology plus a donation of RM100k to any of Bernama's favourite charities in Penang.