KUALA LUMPUR – Making Bahasa Malaysia the language for business and economy is one of the three thrusts of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka’s (DBP) Strategic Plan 2021-2025, with the aim of preserving and broadening the use of the language and its literature.
Education Minister Datuk Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said the plan also seeks to make Bahasa Malaysia the language of the nation and of knowledge.
“DBP’s big responsibility is upholding the Malay language pursuant to Article 152 of the federal constitution that details it as the national language, and based on this, the strategic plan has been developed.
“For the success of this plan, commitment, determination, unity, diligence, and the cooperation of all parties, especially the top management and staff of DBP, are needed to achieve the set targets,” he said at the national publisher’s 65th anniversary celebrations and the launch of the DBP Strategic Plan 2021-2025 via DBP’s official Facebook account today.
He added that DBP has diversified its approach to promoting content of the Malay heritage, including through the use of digital platforms in accordance with current developments.
“In terms of publishing, of course, there will be ups and downs. I am confident that DBP is on the right track to face the challenges of the digital world and produce quality publications,” he said.
Meanwhile, DBP director-general Datuk Abang Sallehuddin Abang Shokeran said the Covid-19 pandemic had opened up new ways of working at DBP via digitisation of most programmes and online implementations.
“This is a new narrative brought about by DBP to develop and build the Malay language using new methods. The new narrative for digitisation encompasses the workings and operations of DBP without forgetting the conventional publishing business that will continue to be implemented by DBP.
“Digitisation is one of the efforts to strengthen our delivery system in the future, and it requires DBP staff to move fast, think creatively and master new technologies to ensure that the new media we use will be utilised effectively and optimally,” he said.
In conjunction with this year’s anniversary celebration, DBP has invited the community to understand the basis of the establishment of the agency and its function in the context of construction and development of the national language and its literature from 1956 until now. – Bernama, June 22, 2021
