By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, March 2: Parti Rakyat Sarawak Youth chief Datuk Snowdan Lawan believes the use of Bahasa Melayu should be strengthened beyond the Malay Archipelago.
To him, Malaysia must not rest on its laurels in pursuing and bolstering the sanctity of Bahasa Melayu as its national language abroad.
The Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Art Deputy Minister held that ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) is a good avenue to strengthen Bahasa Melayu by using it in official functions, speeches, and “eye to eye” or G2G (government to government) dealings, with translations in light of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s announcement that Malaysian representatives will use Bahasa Melayu in all official functions overseas.
“Bahasa Melayu itself is already a studied language by many linguistic enthusiast worldwide.
“To use it in official functions overseas will definitely be a push factor to strengthen the language,” said Snowdan in a press statement.
For Sarawakians, he said, Bahasa Melayu and English are both widely spoken and used as main medium of instruction where many are bilingual.
Snowdan also pointed out that during the tenure of the late Sarawak Chief Minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem, the latter quite often mentioned that the use of English and Bahasa Melayu should complement each other, knowing that English is the global technology, trade, and business dealings language, particularly in e-commerce.
On Feb 26, a news portal reported that Ismail Sabri told government officials to only speak Bahasa Melayu 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
