KUCHING, Oct 28: Sarawak activist Peter John Jaban has questioned if the Federal government would send back letters from overseas investors in Malaysia who prefer to write in the international language of business, which is not Bahasa Malaysia but English.
Criticising Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s directive that government departments should send back any correspondence not in the national language of Bahasa Malaysia, Peter John suggested that the Prime Minister follow the lead of Sarawak and open the minds of the Malaysian civil service to its fundamental principle of service to the people equally.
“All this, one might suggest, is merely a move to cover the embarrassment of civil servants who are no longer able to converse in any language but their own, while the rest of Malaysia, and especially the Borneo States, continues to master many tongues,” he said in a statement today.
Peter John considered this step regressive and a misconception of the civil service’s role, emphasising the government’s responsibility to ensure all communities have access to rights and services.
“After 60 years of Malaysia, and multiple versions of the National Language Act, if this (prioritising Bahasa Malaysia to the extent of rejecting other languages) is essential to national unity, then we are in a sorry state as a country.
“The civil service should be equipped to reply to any citizen in the language of their choosing, whether they are from the Baram region of Sarawak or from Johor itself,” he stressed.
Peter John, who is also Global Human Rights Federation Malaysia deputy president, added that the move is also a contradiction between the government’s recent unity initiatives, when just months ago Anwar announced the use of ‘Segulai Sejalai’ as a slogan for unity throughout the country.
He pointed out that Malaysia is a country blessed with numerous indigenous languages, but many of which are now under threat.
“Support for all our minority languages is notably absent in the national education policy, and now government is declaring itself a closed shop when they should be striving to provide equal representation for all citizens, rather than creating barriers,” he added. — DayakDaily
