Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka’s Role in Promoting Malay

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) is the sole organisation entrusted with regulating and advancing the Malay language, the national language of Malaysia.

The statutory body performs the role of a guardian of the language, and in its 55-year history, has contributed immensely to maintaining the relevance of Malay.

DBP's Director-General, Datuk Termuzi Abdul Aziz, noted that the Malay language reflects the identity of the 'Bangsa Malaysia' and the nation, in an interview with Bernama here, recently.

"As long as the 'Bangsa Malaysia' exists, the language that identifies the race will exist," he added.

The Malay language is a language of unity, of written and spoken communication. Despite the Malay language's significant role in creating a Malaysian identity and uniting a plural society, it is yet to receive the respect due to it.

Termuzi admitted that the national language has been marginalised, especially in the private sector, where English dominates. It is also disappointing to see its use wane in the public sector.

This is a very worrisome situation, and has occurred despite DBP's numerous efforts to promote the language, and increase its usage in official and everyday affairs.

"The hopes of seeing the Malay language reach greater heights, and competing in the 'glokal' and global environment calls for continuous efforts.

"Integrated efforts of numerous parties have to be transparent, so that the goals are achieved," he stressed.

Termuzi said a group of Chinese students who came to Malaysia to learn Malay, observed that Malaysians did not take pride in their national language.

"The students, who were in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, were surprised that the people in this country hardly communicated in the Malay language. They came here to learn Malay, but the locals, instead, responded to them in English.

"If foreigners come up with impressions like this, we should be shameful. Why are we not proud of our own language? If we are not proud of our language, it means we don't have our own identity.

"That is why I have to send these students to rural areas to help them learn the language," he said.

Termuzi said Malaysians, especially Malays, should be proud of their mother tongue, so others can learn from them.

"Whether the language has commercial value or not is all dependent on us. It is our attitude that will decide the commercial value of the language, not others," he stressed.

He criticised Malay corporate leaders, including those heading the GLCs, who shied away from using Malay.

"I see press releases in English, press conferences in English. They just start-off in English. Why not in Malay?" he asked.

"If they start promoting and advancing the Malay language in the world of commerce and industry, only then can we show the identity of our race; only then others will follow suit," he said.

Capable of Advancement

Termuzi noted that Malay is the lingua franca of about 300 million people in the Malay archipelago. Therefore, Malay is capable of serving as the language of knowledge.

"Languages that don't evolve with time will become extinct," he said. He said DBP has coined over a million terms to fulfill the needs of the education system, especially after the medium of instruction in schools changed from English to Malay in 1971.

Since the switch to Malay, the Malay language has become the language of knowledge in the fields of medicine, dentistry and engineering.

He pointed out that foreigners have greater regard for the language, with 160 institutions, worldwide, having Malay studies or Indonesian-Malay studies programmes.

Among them are the Malay Language Department at the Beijing Foreign University and the Guangxi University, where DBP has stationed its officers to conduct the Malay studies programmes.

DBP and Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) have also stationed one official, each, at China Radio International, to conduct a two-hour programme in the Malay language, daily.

"I must admit that there are lots of requests for our officers, but we can't be sending so many of them overseas," explained Termuzi.

Under the 10th Malaysia Plan, DBP will improve publications and translations in Malay, and encourage translation of Malay literature into leading languages of the world.

DBP has also established a research facility for the language, using a new technology, the Malay Language Corpus Data Bank.

"This Malay language Data Bank has a collection of 115 million words from numerous texts.

"We collect them to publish a complete Malay dictionary, and so far it is 80 per cent ready.

"This vast dictionary also traces the origins and history of words, spelling, and how to pronounce them using the phonetic system," explained Termuzi.

Preserving the Language

Termuzi noted that the government was serious about preserving the sovereignty of the Malay language. To achieve this, the National Language Implementation Committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, was established at the end of 2010.

The committee consists of secretary-generals of six ministries, and language experts including the Gabungan Penulis Nasional (GAPENA), Malaysian Translators Association and the Chinese and Indian business chambers.

There are six other sub-committees - Education Structure, Finance, Local Government, Consumerism and Public Service, all represented by authorities in their respective fields.

"The committee's role is to encourage the use of the national language in the financial, banking and insurance sector.

"The committee has helped to station those with the linguistic know-how at banks, proposed bilingual forms and bilingual advertisements, with priority still given to the Malay language," he said.

Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) has made it compulsory for all advertisements and signage to be approved beforehand by DBP, to ensure Malay language is used, and correctly.

"Those who apply for the approval will have to send the visual of their advertisement through our website. The approved application will be given a code, which the applicant will forward to DBKL to obtain the licence," said Termuzi.

DBP meets with radio and television broadcasting stations regularly to advise them on correct usage of the language.

"Some have raised the issue of SMS (Short Message Service) language. This is not the official Malay language, but more personal in nature. It could create an impact when used in official media.

"DBP has come up with a handbook on SMS language that can be accessed from its website only, but it is hardly being used," he said.

Source: http://www.bernama.com
Photo: http://whereinsoever.wordpress.com

Share

Write your comment !