The Malaysian Accent Will Be Starring In The New 'Star Trek' TV Series

If you saw the latest teaser trailer for Star Trek: Discovery, you may have noticed something that sounds familiar to your ears.

Not only are we proud to see our homegrown actress Datuk Michelle Yeoh portray a leading role in the upcoming television series, we’re also extremely thrilled to hear that she’s keeping her local accent for the character!

And we believe many people share our sentiment upon hearing the news.

@io9 I really appreciate that they didn't mask Michelle Yeoh's accent. Prob too much to ask for manglish, but the accent is so beautiful!
— Jack Teng (@MyBossIsADroid) May 17, 2017

I mean, I'm not even a huge Star Trek fan but Michelle Yeoh is giving orders and still has her accent and I'm BAWLING all over my keyboard!?
— shing yin khor (@sawdustbear) May 17, 2017

HEARING MICHELLE YEOH SPEAK WITH A SG/MALAYSIAN ACCENT WHY AM I EXCITED
— wen (@SAAVlK) May 18, 2017

Star Trek fans from around the world are also excited to see more diversity in the cast this time around.

In fact, Yeoh herself acknowledged the fact that she kept her accent for the role and responded on her Facebook page saying that “it was a conscious effort”.

Ipoh-born Yeoh stars as Philippa Georgiou, Captain of the USS Shenzhou, alongside Sonequa Martin-Green who plays First Officer Michael Burnham.

However, there are also haters out there who criticised Yeoh and her accent, calling her a "miscast who doesn't speak proper English":

Thankfully, Yeoh paid no mind to the losers because she's awesome!

According to Malaysian Digest, executive producer Bryan Fuller had explained last month that Star Trek will continue to “celebrate diversity”, not just in terms of race but also in gender.

Whether it was the producers' idea or Yeoh's own decision, we really appreciate her for staying true to her identity and spreading a little bit of Malaysia in one of the most groundbreaking pieces in the history of film and television!