Multilingual guard gets famous

Man taught himself seven languages just to communicate with tourists

A SECURITY guard at Masjid Putra, Putrajaya, has impressed foreign tourists by greeting them in their own language, reported Sinar Harian.

Mohamad Khairul Azhar Mohd Razali, 19, is able to speak simple sentences in Mandarin, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, French and English.

“I learnt the languages so I could help the tourists, I never knew I would gain so much attention!

“I found out I became the talk of the town through my friends. I didn’t expect the individual who greeted me was actually a journal- ist,” he said.

Khairul, from Pahang, said he also received greetings from tour guides after his language abilities were shared on social media.

“I am grateful to the tourists who helped me improve my languages.

“I usually like to greet tourists, so I earnestly ask them about their language and memorise the basic words and sentences,” Khairul said.

> Pictures of actresses Neelofa and Nur Fazura Sharifuddin in the same outfit – which was posted by a netizen on Instagram – are still a hot issue, reported Berita Harian.

Neelofa, whose full name is Noor Nelofa Mohd Noor, said the outfit was from a ready-to-wear collection and not custom-made.

“It is hard to please everyone. If nobody brought the issue up on social media, the incident would have gone unnoticed,” the 29-yearold said.

> A senior citizen was burnt to death at a three-storey shophouse in Lorong Haji Taib 2, Kuala Lumpur, at 6.30am on Sunday, reported Harian Metro.

“I heard the victim screaming for help, but the fire was too big,” said neighbour Abdul Rahassan, who is in his 50s.

Abdul said the victim was staying at the shoplot with a friend, who was not around when the incident happened.

“I was sleeping when I smelled smoke and I quickly woke my daughter up.

“I then realised the victim was inside and was determined to save him, but the door was locked and the fire was raging,” he said.

Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department director Khiruddin Drahman said they got the phone call at 6.37am before firefighters from Titiwangsa station rushed to the scene.