Old Video Of Cabinet Minister Noh Omar Struggling To Speak English On A UN Stage Surfaces
Tan Sri Noh Omar was the urban wellbeing, housing, and local government minister under Datuk Seri Najib Razak's administration in 2018.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 07 Sep 2021, 02:19 PM
An old video showing then urban wellbeing, housing, and local government minister Tan Sri Noh Omar struggling to speak English while onstage has surfaced and gone viral on social media
In a three-minute long video, Noh Omar — who is currently Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister — can be seen speaking at a lectern with the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) logo on it.
A six-second long clip that garnered over 2,100 retweets shows Noh Omar having difficulty saying the word 'congratulate'.
"Congratulate is quite tricky to pronounce. If you don't believe me, listen to this," said author Ibnu Din Assingkiri, who shared a snippet of Noh Omar's speech on Twitter.
Noh Omar continues the rest of his speech in an unclear articulation.
The video has led to many netizens questioning the government of the day on the minister's recent appointment, with some calling his speech "disgraceful".
According to media reports at the time, Noh Omar was speaking at the ninth World Urban Forum (WUF9) in February 2018
The one-week long forum was held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). It was convened by UN-Habitat, a United Nations department that works towards a better quality of life for all in an urbanising world.
The objective of the forum was to bring together thousands of stakeholders to share practices and knowledge on how cities are built, planned, and managed.
It was a big stage for the Selangor UMNO Liaison Committee chairman, as it was attended by "representatives of national, regional and local governments; non-governmental organisations (NGOs); community-based organisations; research institutions and academies; the private sector; development finance institutions; foundations; the media; and UN organisations and other international agencies."
New Straits Times reported that the Tanjung Karang member of Parliament (MP) addressed the opening assemblies of the forum.
