KUCHING: Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) has highlighted several local Facebook pages today for posting a translated version of a press release with a glaring error.
The press release, which was originally in English, was meant to focus on SFC’s recent achievement of freeing more than 30 protected wild animals from a farmhouse in Telok Melano, Sematan but was mistranslated by three Facebook pages, namely ‘Sarawak Update’, ‘Borneo’ and ‘Sarawak Aritok’.
In the fourth paragraph of the unofficial Bahasa Melayu translation posted on each of these pages, the press release stated that instead of the wild animals being sent to the Matang Wildlife Centre for rehabilitation, SFC chief executive officer (CEO) Zolkipli Mohamad Aton was named instead.
“Regarding a Facebook post mentioning our CEO being sent to Matang Wildlife Centre for keeping before releasing that has gone viral on social media, we have requested the admin of ‘Sarawak Update’, ‘Borneo’ & ‘Sarawak Aritok’ page to amend the error,” SFC’s post on their official Facebook page read.
“Please bear in mind that we will never, ever send our CEO to Matang Wildlife Centre for rehabilitation because he is a normal human being.”
SFC further stated that the effort of translating the press release in Bahasa Melayu was appreciated, but hoped that proofreading could be done in the future before being posted on social media.