MELAKA: Leaders and members of official government councils must use the Malay language as a medium of instruction as part of the effort to uphold it as a language of knowledge, said Port Dickson Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The PKR president said the protests and doubts from certain parties were not obstacles against the efforts to uphold Bahasa Melayu as the official language of the country, but the current leaders and Pakatan Harapan government must give their undivided commitment to the effort.
“Recently, I was at a conference organised by a ministry, where there were ambassadors from other countries, from the very beginning, the whole conference was in English, including the doa.
“I commented to the minister that we should change this approach because government events, especially national events held within the country, should be conducted in Malay,” he said in Ayer Keroh here yesterday.
Anwar said this in his keynote address at the closing ceremony of the Malay Archipelago Language and Letters Congress, Melaka level, which was launched by Melaka Chief Minister Adly Zahari.
Anwar said there were also press conferences held by leaders and organised by the government where the language used was a mixture of Malay and English, which does not mirror the PH government’s stand to uphold the Malay language.
“I urge that all who want to have a press conference to do it all in Malay, and if there is a need to answer a question in English, or it is an international conference, then you can talk in English,” he said. – Bernama
