KUCHING, June 3: Datuk Snowdan Lawan has called for Sarawak to be exempted from the enforcement of Bahasa Malaysia to be used in the civil service with punitive measures.
The Sarawak Deputy Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts said there is simply no way that the people of Sarawak could avoid using English as their means of communication in the State.
“Enforcing punitive measure only makes it sound like an offence to use English.
“That’s ridiculous and not rational at all,” he said in a statement today in support of Sarawak Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah’s remark that enforcing the use of Bahasa Malaysia in civil service with punitive measure is “silly and stupid”.
Snowdan, who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Youth chief, further said the punitive measure could be oppressive to civil servants when it comes to their performance appraisal.
“Are you going to demerit a staff if they communicate in English in seminars, training or conventions?
“For this reason, we request that Sarawak be exempted or excluded from this regressive policy. Do not enforce the policy across the board,” he said.
Because of the situation, he also called for Sarawak to be given autonomy in education.
On May 24, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali proposed for the Public Service Department (JPA) to consider punitive measures to enforce the use of Bahasa Malaysia in the civil service.
He said such punitive action was not intended to intimidate but ensure that Bahasa Malaysia as the national language was not used arbitrarily. — DayakDaily
