Video Of BN Candidate Seemingly Struggling To Understand Questions Posed In BM Goes Viral
Leong Hui Ying had uploaded a video of herself speaking Bahasa Melayu following the controversy, but it has since been removed from her Facebook page.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 08 Nov 2021, 06:17 PM
A video showing a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate contesting in the Melaka state poll seemingly struggling to understand reporters' questions went viral on social media
In the almost one-minute long video, Leong Hui Ying — who is contesting for the Kesidang state seat — is being interviewed by reporters speaking in English and Bahasa Melayu.
The first question is asked in English and the reporter wants to know Leong's thoughts on the "stability for prosperity" theme used by BN for the Melaka state election, reported Malaysiakini.
Upon hearing the question, Leong murmurs "okay" and "erm", while the caption in the video alleges that she does not understand the question.
The reporter then repeats the question in Bahasa Melayu.
However, she looks to the side and tells someone in Chinese that she doesn't know how to answer the question.
As she continues to look confused by the question, another reporter suggests moving on from the question.
Speaking in Bahasa Melayu, the reporter asks what are her strategies to compete against political seniors for the seat.
Leong gives a brief answer "I will try my best" after speaking in Chinese to a person behind the camera as if she was looking for help.
According to New Straits Times, Leong is battling in a three-corner fight for the N19 Kesidang seat.
The MCA candidate is up against Allex Seah Shoo Chin from DAP (a component party in the Pakatan Harapan coalition) and Patrick Ng Chin Kae from Gerakan (a component party in the Perikatan Nasional coalition).
Malaysiakini reported that incumbent Seah won the seat by a landslide in 2018.
The video garnered over 4,200 retweets at the time of writing
Many netizens criticised Leong for not being able to speak the national language.
One Twitter user exemplified how Japanese can speak Japanese, while China nationals can speak Chinese, so on and so forth, before asking, "Now in Malaysia, is it not necessary to speak Bahasa Melayu?"
"If you don't learn the language of the people, you're not a part of the people."
Another netizen added, "You can't understand English nor BM, how are you going to represent the people in the state legislature? Are you going to skip state legislative sitting?"
In the original video posted by Melaka Hari Ini, it shows Leong being able to understand and answer the first two questions presented by the reporter.
The politician speaks mostly in English and sporadically in Bahasa Melayu.
After the video went viral, Leong uploaded two videos today, 8 November, speaking in Bahasa Melayu
"Don't understand Bahasa Melayu? Is that true? Lets we check about it (sic)," the video caption read.
In the video, she told netizens to not easily believe the allegations before asking them for their support in the upcoming state election.
The video that was uploaded on her Facebook page had loud background music, making it difficult for viewers to hear her clearly.
After a few hours it was uploaded, the video can no longer be found. Malaysiakini reported that the video was shared to MCA's WhatsApp group for the press, and it was deleted shortly after.
In another video uploaded on the MCA Selayang Facebook page, she urged voters to support her in Bahasa Melayu.
The caption of the video says the 29-year-old candidate is an alumnus of Pay Fong High School — an independent high school — and SJK(C) Wen Hua di Melaka.
