Do you speak English? Litte-little sih I can...

Read a funny story on the Jakarta Post about the quality of one Minister's English. The news said that during a session between the president, some economic ministers and the executives of an Indian software company in India, this Minister asked a question, supposedly in English, but no one could understand what he was trying to say. The president was reportedly irked with him.

Some quotes of the news:

[The minister's] muddled assemblage of apparently English words, left the executives visibly perplexed and the audience silent for a long, uncomfortable moment, as everyone attempted to decipher the verbiage. President Susilo had a disturbed look on his face and turned and glared furiously at [him].

"If he is not sure of his English, he must not ask questions. It is embarrassing. I think he should take an English course to catch up with fellow ministers, who have shown their capabilities," said an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

Mind you, this minister holds a degree from Pittsburgh! The paper, naughtily, raised this alma mater issue:

[The minister], who holds a degree from a university in Pittsburgh, might have felt obliged to ask a question after Minister of Trade Mari Elka Pangestu, who studied at the University of California, Davis, and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie successfully asked questions about the Infosys success strategy.

And, ironically, the chairman of the company "told the audience that among the key successes of Infosys, and India generally, in developing the software industry was good skills in English in order to communicate well with the international community."

Well, if there is to be a cabinet reshuffle, perhaps one criteria should be... TOEFL score...?