KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s government has announced a move to change the name of the national language back to “Bahasa Malaysia”, or the Malaysian language, to promote a sense of belonging to all races in the multi-cultural country, official reports said yesterday.
The original name for the language had been “Bahasa Malaysia” since the country achieved independence in 1957, but the government renamed it “Bahasa Melayu”, or the Malay Language, in 1986.
“We know Malay is the national language, but we want it to be the language of all Malaysians, regardless of heritage or race,” deputy prime minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying by Bernama.
“We regard Bahasa Malaysia belongs to all of us, that is the rationale,” he said.
The decision to revert back to the original name was made by the Cabinet in April, and was aimed at instilling a sense of belonging for the language among the people, regardless of their race, said officials.
Ethnic Malays make up 60% of the population but Malaysia has a large minority of ethnic Chinese and Indians.–dpa
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