Daphne Maia

Let's get the semantics bit out of the way. Some definitions of "mode":

From Princeton:
# manner: how something is done or how it happens; "her dignified manner"; "his rapid manner of talking"; "their nomadic mode of existence"; "in the characteristic New York style"; "a lonely way of life"; "in an abrasive fashion"
# a particular functioning condition or arrangement; "switched from keyboard to voice mode"
# modality: a classification of propositions on the basis of whether they claim necessity or possibility or impossibility
# mood: verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker
# any of various fixed orders of the various diatonic notes within an octave
# the most frequent value of a random variable

From Wikipedia:
# Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive verb forms that are used to signal modality. It is distinct from grammatical tense or grammatical aspect, although these concepts are conflated to some degree in many languages...

More definitions can be found here.

No where do I find that changing one's "mode" signifies changing the language used for communication. Perhaps he means, "I can code-switch" or simply, "I can converse in English, if you prefer so."

Now that we're done with the semantics, let's talk about his mannerisms.

This Minister should really take some Communication lessons. The way he rudely speaks to the media / audience is hardly going to help to position the new Malaysian cabinet in a good light, and it isn't as if they have a stellar reputation already.

Does he know the value of PR, of communication, and media relations? I really doubt so. And he is the Malaysian Minister of Information, Communications, and Culture Minister.

Does he really have to sound so condescending and ask the poor journo where he was educated that he cannot speak Malay? Or is it because he isn't able to understand the question in English? Note how he goes on and on about the journo's language abilities, rather than answering the question, and later says, "Give the others, uh, the rest, ah.. (a chance to ask questions), I think he has asked already."

Well done, Minister. I'm so proud to be a citizen and be able to say this: Malaysia Boleh.