SIBU, Feb 28: Malaysian representatives should be allowed discretion over which language to use when speaking at official functions abroad instead of being restricted to only using Bahasa Malaysia.
Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Youth chief Michael Tiang said the restriction announced by Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaacob recently is unnecessary as language is a means to communicate.
He pointed out that if one could communicate effectively regardless of language, the choice of language should not be an issue.
“From Sarawak’s perspective, English is one of our official languages. Such directive from Putrajaya will be unnecessarily restrictive to Sarawak when representing Malaysia overseas.
“Moreover, Malaysians are also very good (sic) at English compared to other countries in this region. It is our advantage in engaging the international community. Why restrict now?” he asked.
Tiang who also the Public Health, Housing and Local Government assistant minister pointed out that as far as SUPP is aware, the matter of which language is used at foreign functions has never been an issue.
He said many of its party leaders have also been invited to speak at events overseas, and SUPP leaders would continue to do so when invited.
“We understand Putrajaya had never put a language directive in place. We do not think there is a necessity to have one now,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, on Feb 26, a news portal reported that Ismail Sabri told government officials to only speak Bahasa Malaysia when representing the country at functions overseas.
Ismail Sabri said that there should be no problems in using the national language outside the country as there is existing technology that can handle translation in real-time. — DayakDaily
