The Penang State Assembly saw a rather terse moment between two state assemblypersons (ADUN) after one of them objected to the other’s usage of English in his reply to a question posed to him.
The two ADUNs in question were Datok Keramat ADUN Jagdeep Singh Deo, while the other was Telok Ayer Tawar ADUN Azmi bin Alang, where their short, but heated exchange was captured live.
‘Use Malay instead of English, please’
Jagdeep was responding to a question posed to him by Komtar ADUN Teh Lai Heng, who inquired about the state government’s efforts in attracting more foreign investment, particularly regarding education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
At the start of his speech, Jagdeep was speaking mostly in Malay while mixing in some English terms and sentences sparingly.
When he touched upon how technology was moving at a fast pace and the need to keep up with it, Jagdeep reiterated the importance of it, where he said in English: “The world is moving too fast, and we cannot be left behind. And we will not be left behind.”
As soon as those words left his mouth, Jagdeep was interrupted by Azmi, who called upon the Speaker to remind Jagdeep to use Malay instead of English, prompting a wave of laughter to echo throughout the state assembly.
‘What was your score for BM SPM?’
Azmi’s seemingly simple request left Jagdeep in disbelief, who proceeded to verbally dress him down in front of the other ADUNs by asking him about him SPM results.
How much did you score for your BM paper for SPM? Answer me! Can you answer? Do you dare to answer?”
When Azmi responded by saying that he was willing to answer the question, Jagdeep challenged him to answer, but the latter didn’t reveal his SPM results, leading Jagdeep to quip, ‘Aiyo…acting like this first thing in the morning.”
As Azmi continued to protest, the Speaker attempted to restore order by reminding Jagdeep to use Malay for the rest of his speech to prevent the state assembly proceedings from derailing.
Watch the exchange from the 34.40 mark onwards:
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