Would these Guidelines Tempt you to Return to Malaysia?

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Jun 23, 2010

By Masterwordsmith

If you visit the official website of the Ministry of Human Resources, there is THIS LINK
about the Returning Expert Programme – A Program to Encourage Malaysian Citizens with Expertise Residing Overseas to Return to Malaysia. If you had never heard about it till now, you have not missed much unless you want to have a good laugh at the deplorable standard of English used in the pdf file which you can read AT THIS LINK.

That pdf file is titled GUIDELINES FOR APPLYING FOR INCENTIVES UNDER THE PROGRAMME TO ENCOURAGE MALAYSIAN CITIZENS WITH EXPERTISE RESIDING OVERSEAS TO RETURN TO MALAYSIA.

I have one simple question to ask you this evening:

If you were a Malaysian currently residing overseas and you read that pfd file, would you come back to Malaysia to work?

The syntax of the whole article clearly shows that the document was directly translated from one that was originally written in Bahasa Malaysia.

Behold an excerpt from the pdf file:

The following incentives offered:

i. All personal effects brought into Malaysia will be exempted from tax;

ii. Spouse and children of the applicant who are not themselves Malaysian Citizens will be given Permanent Resident status within six (6) months after the have sent their complete application to Immigration Department;

iii. Applicant’s children will be given leeway to enter International Schools when they return to Malaysia. However this facility is not applicable for applicant’s children who are born in Malaysia after the date of return to Malaysia;

iv. Two (2) motorcars will be exempted from import duty, excises duty and sales tax. For cases, where both husband and wife apply and are approved by the Special Committee, the total number of motorcars to be exempted are limited to two (2) motorcars per couple;

v. Applicants from countries using left hand drive are allowed to buy and bring in motorcar(s) from third countries (using the right hand drive.)

vi. Applicants who are unable to bring back motorcar(s) for any reason(s) are allowed to buy locally manufactured / assembled cars in Malaysia exempted from excises duty and sales tax. The total numbers of motorcar to be exempted are limited to two (2) motorcars including motorcars brought in from overseas. CLICK HERE for more.

Behold – the above text translated into Bahasa Malaysia thanks to Google Translate tool (and it sounds so much better in BM!!):

Berikut insentif yang ditawarkan:

i. Semua barang peribadi yang dibawa ke Malaysia akan dibebaskan dari cukai;

ii. Pasangan dan anak-anak pemohon yang tidak sendiri Malaysia Citizens akan diberikan status Permanent Resident dalam masa enam (6) bulan selepas menghantar aplikasi lengkap untuk Imigresen Jabatan;

iii. anak Pemohon akan diberikan kelonggaran untuk melihat Sekolah Antarabangsa ketika mereka kembali ke Malaysia. Namun kemudahan ini tidak berlaku bagi anak-anak pemohon yang lahir di Malaysia selepas tarikh kembali ke Malaysia;

iv. Dua (2) unit kereta akan dibebaskan dari bea masuk, cukai cukai dan cukai jualan. Untuk kes, di mana kedua-dua suami dan isteri berlaku dan diluluskan oleh Jawatankuasa Khas, jumlah unit kereta yang akan dikecualikan akan terhad untuk dua (2) unit mobil per pasangan;

v. Pelamar dari negara-negara menggunakan tangan kiri drive dibenarkan untuk membeli dan membawa Motorcar (s) dari negara-negara ketiga (dengan menggunakan tangan kanan drive.)

vi. Pelamar yang tidak dapat membawa kembali Motorcar (s) untuk sebarang sebab (s) dibenarkan untuk membeli dihasilkan secara tempatan / kereta dirakit di Malaysia dibebaskan dari kewajipan cukai dan cukai jualan. Jumlah yang akan dibebaskan Motorcar terhad untuk dua (2) unit kereta termasuk unit kereta didatangkan dari luar negeri.

Direct translation to English from any native language does not work because the syntax of both languages are different. As can be seen in the example, the end result is the same – slow and unnatural written English that sounds stilted, grammatically and structurally wrong.

The translator has to understand the importance of English collocations, phrasal verbs and expressions and concentrate on fluency to ensure that the sentence is logical and grammatically correct.

I cannot imagine how many of you would be having goose flesh when you read the pdf file. How on earth can the government imagine that such guidelines would lure Malaysians back to the country to contribute their expertise? It is truly disgraceful and embarrassing!

I hypothesize that it would make many apply for PR status wherever they may be working!!

And they are still mulling whether or not to scrap the UPSR and PMR exams WITHOUT looking at how they can improve teaching standards, teaching methods and the curriculum.