If anybody watched the Chinese TV news, he even spoke to the Chinese media in fairly accurate Mandarin, again thanking everybody for their support. Of course having a Chinese girlfriend helps, but I was honestly very touched that he actually made the effort to repeat in Mandarin. Very proud, and very happy for him. Go Ronald!
Isn't Ronald Chinese? If he is, being able to speak in mandarin is not surprising. According to Loh, he is related to Candra Wiyaya, who is also a Chinese. There are a lot of Indonesians of Chinese origin who are living in Singapore, probably more so after the overthrow of Suharto, just like there are a lot of Malaysians of Chinese origin who are living in Singapore. Chinese people in Malaysia, Indonesia and Sigapore do speak mandarin, even more so than the Chinese in Hong Kong.
hee hee i think ur a bit mistaken abt the situation over in south east asia... haha not all chinese can speak mandarin or any chinese dialect for that matter... i've had quite a fair share of indonesian chinese classmates who took malay as their mother tongue... i think the situation in indonesia is quite different from singapore and malaysia... hee... incidentally ronald's girlfriend is a national paddler... who if i am not mistaken only speaks mandarin in front of the cameras... haha so i'm sure ronald has learnt a thing or 2 from her... haha
