Deputy Speaker rebukes AGC after Bill presented in English, with typo in 'rabbit'
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Ramli Mohd Nor today reprimanded the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), telling the latter to ensure there are no spelling or grammatical errors when drafting new or amending Bills.
The rebuke came after the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022 — which is being debated in Parliament today — put forward by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (Mafi), contained several spelling errors.
“I checked with the August House’s secretary, and the official amendment is in English. But if we look at the English copy, some spelling is not correct.
“I’ve never seen someone spell rabbit, r-a-b-b-i-t apostrophe, or is this the name of a new animal? Mafi, please take note. Maybe in the course of the debate, this may arise.
“Attorney-general, before this thing comes out and is reported nationally, please check it to ensure it’s right. The quality it seems has gone down,” he said before relieving the House for lunch.
The Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022 is currently being debated in Parliament at the time of writing.
Earlier during the morning session, Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) pointed out mistakes in the Malay language copy of the Bill, accusing the attorney-general of failing to heed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s request to uphold the Malay language.
“I want to give some advice, maybe not to Mafi, but to the AGC because I see in the Malay version of the amendment, under Schedule 3 which lists all six livestock should be written in Malay.
“The AGC, apparently, is not upholding what the prime minister has outlined, which was about our national language, and in the House, it is our responsibility to lift the national language together,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
The Malay copy of the amendment, sighted by Malay Mail, saw the third schedule list the lists of livestock in English, instead of Malay.
On top of the language, there was an error on one of the livestock listed, which spelt rabbit with an apostrophe sign at the end.
