He said the government would also not waver in continuing to make Bahasa Melayu the official medium of education in the country at all levels.
He noted that efforts to empower Bahasa Melayu to continue to expand needed good and detailed planning and would take a long time.
“This effort also requires our whole-hearted commitment, especially from those tasked with the responsibility,” he said when opening an international Bahasa Melayu public speaking competition for the Prime Minister’s Cup last night.
Najib urged the Higher Education Ministry and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka to step up cooperation with overseas institutes in the effort to spread knowledge on Malay civilisation and promote Bahasa Melayu.
Najib said the government had established a number of Chairs in Malay Studies in universities abroad as a collaborative effort to study other approaches to expand the use of Bahasa Melayu in foreign countries.
He said efforts to internationalise Bahasa Melayu as a world language required integrated and inclusive initiatives.
As such, Najib stressed that Bahasa Melayu practitioners must provide full cooperation to the government and its agencies to empower Bahasa Melayu in the international community.
In the era of information and communications technology, Najib said: “We should make full use of all the room and opportunities available to jointly expand Bahasa Melayu to non-native speakers so that Bahasa Melayu is viewed as dominant and relevant for all time.”
According to him, the Malay language has been adopted as one of 10 major languages of the world, with more than 300 million speakers and ranks fifth as the most widely spoken language in the world.
At the speaking competition, Muhammad Haziq Jamaludin was announced the winner in the Malay World category, while Universiti Malaysia Sarawak student Abdalla Hassan Gharib, from Tanzania, won in the international student category. Hatsune Yanai of Japan emerged the winner in the international category.
Winners receive the Prime Minister’s Trophy, RM20,000, accompanying gifts and certificate.
– BERNAMA