KUCHING: The Sarawak government has always supported the efforts of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) here.
A number of allocations were channelled by the state government to implement several programmes on language, literature, studies related to tribal language, culture, oral literature and history of Sarawak as well as special publications related to local wisdom.
“Touching on language, we must be proud and must preserve the dignity of our national language. It is our official language that we use in state administration and any field whatsoever. Recently, we have heard the decision of the Premier of Sarawak on the use of English to be maintained in the civil service,” said Deputy Minister in the Premier Department (Law, Malaysia 1963 Agreement and State-Federal Relations) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.
“I would like to share that this decision does not mean that we deny the importance of the mother tongue, but it is an approach to expand our communication power, especially at the international level.
“As a developing state, we need effective communication that connects us with various sectors within and outside the country in order to achieve our goals.
“For example, in the development of digital economy, of course we need the cooperation of countries that are more developed in terms of digital technology.
“That is where we need extensive communication to help us in terms of technology investment, for example, to achieve effective development,” she said when officiating the 45th anniversary discourse of Sarawak DBP at the DBP Cultural Centre here on Thursday (June 23).
“In line with the recommendations and initiatives of the Premier of Sarawak, we can see that the state government is actively improving the digital infrastructure in Sarawak. Among them is by building telecommunication towers to ensure that we can achieve our goals by 2030.
“With the empowerment of this telecommunication system, Sarawak will gradually move towards a digital economy.
“The state government has given full trust to Sarawak DBP to act as the secretariat for the implementation of the Sarawak Literature Awards,” Sharifah Hasidah added.
