Filling the gaps in delivery of Covid-19 news

KUANTAN: The Communications and Multimedia Ministry is making efforts to strengthen the dissemination of information on the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in Mandarin and Tamil.

Its minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said there are now minor gaps in the delivery of news and information in these two languages.

“We are enhancing the message for presentation in Mandarin and Tamil, while for the people of Sabah and Sarawak we are also improving the delivery in the Kadazan and Iban languages.

“Actually, we are also aware that Malaysians are beginning to feel tired and stressed in facing this pandemic; so the message to be presented by the ministry will also be made fresh and improved from time to time,” he told a news conference after attending the Indera Mahkota Prihatin progamme here yesterday.

Saifuddin, who is the Indera Mahkota MP, said the ministry will also step up the delivery of news for Persons with Disabilities (OKU) and improve the dissemination of information to foreigners by using the services of interpreters.

“For OKU we also need to improve the message delivery. For example, for RTM news with a sign language interpreter, we were told that a red television background is not suitable for OKU and blue is more suitable; so we will change.

“For migrant workers, not all of them understand the language we use. So we will use interpreters to help convey the message, including in the Nepalese and Rohingya languages,” he added.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin reminded employers to play their part in improving the accommodation for foreign workers as their poor living conditions were seen as a contributing factor to the rapid spread of Covid-19 among migrants.

Saifuddin also said the government is prepared to discuss and cooperate with various stakeholders to source for the Covid19 vaccine.