让鸡学狗叫?马来西亚政府因错误广告向华人道歉

The Malaysian government is facing ridicule after it took out a full-page advert to celebrate the Lunar New Year - featuring a barking rooster.

马来西亚政府在拿出一整页的广告来庆祝农历新年之后面临嘲笑。因为广告登载着一只学狗叫的公鸡。

The Year of the Rooster - based on the Chinese zodiac - has just ended, giving way to the Year of the Dog.

根据中国十二生肖，鸡年刚刚结束，今年是狗年。

The trade ministry’s advert wished people a prosperous Year of the Dog - but showed a rooster emitting a dog’s bark in Chinese.

国家贸易部的这则广告祝愿人们一个繁荣的狗年 - 但是却展示了一只公鸡用中文发出狗的吠叫声。

The ministry apologised for the "technical error".

该部为“技术错误”道歉。

The cultural quagmire is complicated by a view held by some Malaysian Muslims that dogs are unclean animals.

一些马来西亚穆斯林认为狗是不洁的动物，该文化泥潭因此变得复杂。

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Malaysian businesses were ignoring or playing down canine symbols - to avoid offending the Muslim majority. Ethnic Chinese make up about a quarter of the country’s population.

本周早些时候，路透社报道称，马来西亚企业忽视或淡化犬的符号 - 以避免冒犯大多数穆斯林。华人约占全国人口的四分之一。

That led many to think that the advert printed in Chinese language newspapers was a misguided attempt to avoid a picture of a dog - whether it made sense or not.

这导致很多人认为在中文报纸上刊登的广告避免使用狗的照片是误导性的尝试，无论这是否有意义。

On Facebook, one user said the advert was "mere stupidity", while another called it a "national embarrassment".

在Facebook上，一位用户称该广告是“愚蠢而已”，而另一位用户则称其为“民族尴尬”。

English-language newspaper The Star quoted the chair of the Malaysian Chinese Association’s religious harmony bureau as saying some were trying to "to make the Chinese angry" over simple mistakes.

英文报纸《星报》援引马来西亚华人协会宗教和谐局主席的话说，有些人试图通过简单的错误“让中国人生气”。

"After the apology, the error was forgotten and there was no major upset among the Chinese community as the Chinese are a pragmatic lot and easygoing," Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker told the newspaper.

“在道歉之后，这个错误被遗忘了，华人社区没有大的不安，因为中国人是一个务实和随和的人，”拿督斯里提利克告诉该报。

He accused the opposition DAP party of stirring up "hate, resentment and anger".

他指责反对派民主行动党激起“仇恨和愤怒”。