IPOH: Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir has warned civil servants not to ‘act smart’ following the notice blunder which appeared at the Ipoh Tourist Information Centre (ITIC).
"Don't act smart, please refer to the department head first before issuing any notices," Zambry warned.
Zambry said the notice with atrocious English is believed to have been directly translated from Google Translate by a council staff on duty at the centre.
"I was informed that the staff had used the Google Translate application to change the sentence into English so that it would look more elegant and (sound more) international.
"Although the issue may seem minor but the impact is big. Let this be a lesson (to all) and should any staff wants to issue a notice to the public, please refer to your respective department head first, don’t act smart and think that you are great," he added.
On Monday, it was reported that a New Straits Times reader had taken a photo of the notice that read: "Sorry for the complimentary, we are closing temporary Saturday 30/12/17 & Sunday 31/12/17 because we had an unexpected problem within with our networking & air conditioner issue. We are sure that we are been operated on 2nd January 2018. TQ".
Zambry added that he has contacted the Ipoh City Council for clarification on the matter.
He then chided the staff stating that all communications related to official state government affairs should be in Bahasa Malaysia.
"I have said the same thing for the umpteenth times... any notices or announcements must be in Bahasa Malaysia. Such mistake shows that we are not serious," he added.
Mayor Datuk Zamri Man in a statement on Monday said that if it was negligence (by the staff) without due consideration of the risks placed on the council, a show-cause letter will be issued to the staff.
If the staff is found to have committed an offence, a warning letter will be issued.
Translated from Berita Harian