Bahasa Melayu/Malaysia Issue: Zam Slams Language 'Fanatics' For Opposing Change

As expected there were reverberations from certain quarters who could not be bothered about the government's reasons for changing the terminology of our national language. As far as they are concerned, Bahasa Melayu it is and always will be. And frankly you cannot simply ignore their opinion or their right to disagree with the official position. They have always been steadfast and consistent on the subject and it is the government which has been dithering from time to time. They like many others must feel that the government is playing politics with the terminology gesture, and they probably are quite correct with that assumption. Part of a Bernama report on this issue follows.

Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin wants society, particularly the Malays, to keep an open mind on the government's decision to change the terminology for `Bahasa Melayu' to `Bahasa Malaysia'.

In this matter, he said, the approach taken by the language fanatics would only scare the non-Malays from getting close to the language, and appreciating and subsequently using it.

"We should not merely adopt the academic approach in matters such as this one...we should also use the marketing approach, that is, how to market the national language more creatively.

"We will become confused with what we actually desire if our thinking is not clear," he said.

He added that the use of the terminology `Bahasa Malaysia' would be more easily acceptable to the various communities in the country compared to the term `Bahasa Melayu' which seemed to be meant for use by one particular race only.

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