Mufti: Focus on leaders’ fairness, not English

KANGAR: Rather than picking on the shortcomings of national lea­ders like their command of the Eng­lish language, Malaysians should focus on core issues such as the leaders’ ability to be just, said Perlis mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin.

While being good in the language is beneficial, he highlighted that the more crucial quality of leaders was their capacity for fairness.

“This country needs fair leaders more than those who are fluent (in English),” Dr Mohd Asri wrote in his Facebook page yesterday.

He was commenting on the public ribbing of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over his strong Malay accent and trouble with English pronunciation and intonation in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly last week.

“Malaysians should focus on matters of substance, such as our lea­ders’ fairness, integrity and stan­dard of good governance.

“We should be more mature ra­ther than harp on the small shortcomings of our leaders,” he said.

He hoped that Malaysians would avoid character assassination in politics and focus on higher objectives to bring the country forward.

“In this, I call on Malaysians to avoid this kind of half-baked politics because it will only foment anger and resentment,” he said.