Enforcing ‘proper’ use of Bahasa Malaysia with penalties ‘unfortunate’, say linguists

Aminah Farid Updated 9 months ago · Published on 25 Jun 2022 11:00AM · 0 Comments

Linguists say changes to languages are not necessarily threats as proposed amendments to the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Act 1959 detail penalties for disrespecting the language. – Wikipedia pic, June 25, 2022.

LANGUAGE experts say they understand the government’s desire to uphold Bahasa Malaysia as the national language, but feel it is unfortunate that penalties will be legislated just to protect it.

Professor Emeritus Teo Kok Seong, a principal research fellow from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, is of the view that penalties are necessary as the public generally does not have a positive attitude towards Bahasa Malaysia as the national language.