KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 — For Pakatan Harapan’s Hannah Yeoh, one feature that has set her campaign apart from her colleagues’ bids is the recurring presence of a sign language interpreter in her ceramahs held in the Segambut parliamentary constituency.
But how did sign language interpretation come to be part of Yeoh’s mission seeking re-election for a second term as Segambut MP in the 15th general election?
“Two weeks ago, as we were out for a family event and I had finished an interview, I saw a group of people communicating with each other but there was no audible sound.
“One guy then walked up to me and tapped me on the shoulder and wrote a note saying he is a voter in Segambut.
“That hit me. It really hit me to start thinking about all my campaign programmes; am I including them? Can they even hear my message?” she told Malay Mail in an interview after a walkabout in Taman Tasik Menjalara here.
Realising the shortcomings, Yeoh immediately sought the service of sign language interpretation and eventually managed to secure the professional service of one individual who managed to assemble a small team that follows Yeoh throughout her campaign rallies within Segambut.
“So, we later found that they have only done translations for political campaigns in Singapore but not in Malaysia.
“I told them I wanted to invite them to come and after the first time (ceramah gig), now they are telling me the deaf community are all following my Facebook Live for ceramah,” Yeoh said excitedly.
Following the encouraging success and reception, Yeoh said the entire experience was enlightening as she is now beginning to learn about the various words in sign language as a result of incorporating the service into her rallies.
At one of Yeoh’s ceramah held at Taman Sejahtera Recreational Park on Saturday night, freelance sign language interpreter Jonah Ong prepared for his assignment by making himself comfortable on a metal box on the side of the stage that was turned into a makeshift stand.
Ong had been assigned to provide sign language interpretation for the entirety of the two-hour long ceramah organised by Yeoh’s campaign, which was also to be broadcast live on Yeoh’s Facebook account.
When approached, the enthusiastic 30-year-old was more than eager to share his experience with Malay Mail as a sign language interpreter for a political ceramah.
“We started our sign language interpreting last week (when the first ceramah was held after nomination). It has been very exciting.
“Every time there is ceramah, I always look forward no matter how tired we are at the end,” he said.
Later, Ong disclosed that he was not the main person responsible with assigning interpreters to Yeoh’s ceramahs, but rather his mentor for the past 20 years, Lucy Lim.
“She (Lim) got contacted by YB Hannah. She then assembled a team of us so we just followed her or sometimes she would give us assignments on where the ceramah would be held and we just do our thing.
“There are roughly five to six of us. We are actually freelance interpreters and this is our first time doing this because previously we were not approached and some interpreters preferred not to interpret ceramahs because it’s political in nature,” he said.
On his experience as an interpreter, Ong said he began signing at the age of 19 after coming across several deaf individuals in his workplace, later developing into a passion and involvement in voluntary interpretation work for the community.
Asked about the difficulties in providing sign language interpretation for political rallies, Ong said the group worked closely with several deaf researchers to determine whether there exist specific sign names for certain ministers or politicians.
“So, for every minister we have a special sign name for them. Like Hannah, it’s like this because of her long straight hair so this is H on the side of her face.
“For Gobind Singh Deo, it’s like this (making a turban gesture above the head). For Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail because she loved bringing along her hand fan, so this is W (making a hand fan gesture on the side of the face).
“We don’t have to finger spell everything, only special buildings or road names. It’s just like our spoken language, like acronyms,” he added.
He stressed that the task of an interpreter is not to create or teach languages spoken by those who can hear but as a bridge by interpreting what is heard and relaying them to the deaf community.
“We want to maintain as close, as natural as to the spoken language’s root as possible.
“So, it’s like learning Mandarin but the module is from China. Interpreters do not teach, we can teach the technicalities of voicing, but the language itself is taught by deaf instructors.
“And this is what we are stressing and emphasising to the community, we maintain our professional status as neutrals.
“We do not teach your language but we help you interpret messages from a hearing community to your community and vice versa,” he said.
Yeoh won the Chinese-majority seat in her parliamentary electoral debut in the 2018 general election with a majority of 45,702 votes.
Before that, she was a two-term Subang Jaya assemblyman having won the state seat in 2008 and 2013.
For the 15th general election, Yeoh will face Barisan Nasional’s Daniel Ling Sia Chin (MCA) and Perikatan Nasional’s V. Prabagaran (Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia).
