In late September, Prime Minister Dato Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob attended the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York where he delivered his speech in Bahasa Melayu.
Recently, Sabri attended a talk in UiTM Shah Alam and during the Q&A session, one of the students asked,
“You’ve recently spoke BM at an international scale. What are you trying to show the world?”
The Prime Minister had a very patriotic answer to that question.
“I’m a Malay and a Malaysian. We have our own culture and language, and wherever we are, we have to retain our identity.”
He said that at an international conference, what matters is how the message is delivered and conveyed. In this modernised era, translations can be done at the scene, immediately and automatically.
As a Prime Minister, Sabri has visited many countries, and he was amazed by how proud the locals are of their own languages.
“They speak their own languages without any embarrassment. I’m proud with BM, and that is why I spoke in BM during the international conference.”
In his Twitter post today (October 5), Sabri has a message to fellow Malaysians.
“It’s time to dignify and raise the status our language.”
The Prime Minister also assured that the language spoken by someone is not the determining factor in the development of a country. He urged Malaysians to be confident that Bahasa Melayu is on the same level as other languages in the world.
He pointed out that his speech in BM during the UN General Assembly was not only covered by Malaysian media but also by the media from other countries. This means that even if he speaks in the Malay language, the media from other countries can still report it.
As Malaysians, it is certainly a must for us to be able to comprehend and converse in the National language. Do you agree with Sabri’s take on raising the status of our national language?
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