Bahasa Malaysia guarantees national unity, says Anwar

Anwar defends the national language, the special privileges of the Malays, Islam and the Malay rulers

(Bernama): Malaysians should uphold the national language to ensure the country’s unity, PKR president-elect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said on Sunday (Sept 23).

Speaking at the ‘New Malaysia’ seminar organised by the Sabah Youth and Sports Ministry and Sabah Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (ABIM), he explained that the principle of upholding Bahasa Malaysia was enshrined in the Constitution to bind the people as one nation.

“I still defend the principles enshrined in the National Constitution, namely regarding language, of special privileges, on the matter of Islam and the rulers; this, for me, is the way to bind us as a nation… by providing enough space to believers of all other religions.

“Hence, the use of other languages, including English, as well as economic growth of all races, is not questioned.

“The problem is our slowness or weakness, especially among our leadership to ensure that the platform is not only understood but that the principle is implemented,” he said when delivering a special speech titled ‘Building and Realising the Ideology of the Nation’ in conjunction with the seminar here.

Anwar also stressed that efforts to uphold the national language to ensure racial unity were not meant to sideline the mastery of other languages such as English, Chinese, Tamil and others.

He said instead, promoting the mastery of the national language would enable and encourage the people to master other languages as well.