By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Feb 23: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) has no role and no say in Sarawak’s decision to use the word ‘Premier” instead of ‘Chief Minister’ in addressing the chief executive of the Sarawak Government.
Sarawak Federation of Associations president Dato Richard Wee said Sarawak was just adopting Australian model by calling the head of a state ‘Premier’ and it should not be an issue since the Sarawak Legislative Assembly had approved it.
“We are doing it in accordance to that kind of model and we are doing it to differentiate ourselves from the other Malaya states. That is as clear as daylight.
“Insofar as DBP is concerned, it has nothing to do with it and it has no role and no say in it. The only responsibility it may have is to find an equivalent translation for the term ‘premier’ in the Bahasa Malaysia language,” Wee told DayakDaily.
Wee held that if there is an existing proper equivalent for the word, then BDP can identify the word. If there is none, it was not a big deal as the word ‘Premier’ can be borrowed from the English language, as in many other cases such as the word ‘president’.
He suggested to DBP to look into the Bahasa Malaysia term used to address the Premier of China or the Premier of Victoria, Australia.
“If there is an existing designation or translation, then we will just use it. If there isn’t, just address as ‘yang amat berhormat Premier’ to address Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari,” said Wee.
To Wee, DBP is equivalent to a national literature bureau whose responsibility is to take charge of the proper use, development and the perpetuation of the Bahasa Malaysia language as well as to ensure the archiving of all good literature and history of the nation.
“DBP had already been used as a political tool when they started to get involved with the Hang Tuah issue. That was when they compromised their objectivity,” said Wee.
DBP’s board of control chairman Prof Datuk Awang Sariyan was reported to have urged Sarawak to reconsider its decision to change the title of its state government leader from ‘Chief Minister’ to ‘Premier’.
Awang said there were long term implications to the use of the term, one of which was creating the perception that there was a prime minister at the state level.
Another implication, he said was that the concept of federalism, which is the basis of the Malaysian Federation, will be affected and this needed to be examined carefully.
The Sarawak Legislative Assembly had passed the Constitution of the State of Sarawak (Amendment) Bill 2022 to change the designation of the ‘Chief Minister’ to ‘Premier’ and Assistant Minister to ‘Deputy Minister’ on Feb 15. — DayakDaily
