AS THE country's official language for the past 50 years, the strengthening and total dissemination of the Malay language is the responsibility of everyone to uphold and preserve the language throughout the nation.
Acting Director of the Language and Literature Bureau, Hjh Aminah Hj Momin stressed this yesterday in her speech as guest of honour during the presentation of prizes to 16 winners of an eight-day radio quiz yesterday at the bureau's building at Old Airport, Berakas.
As a community that cares for its society, religion and country, the true meaning of the Malay language must be cherished and appreciated to the fullest by its people, she said.
Hjh Aminah also highlighted that the media plays an important role in creating a generation who takes the proper usage of the Malay language seriously.
She explained that when the media uses the language incorrectly, especially by using "bahasa rojak" (mixed language), then the younger generation would start to assume that the language is acceptable.
Once that assumption is made, then the Malay language's position in the country will be lost, she said.
The acting director also discouraged the use of bahasa rojak as its usage would stop the younger generation from fully mastering the Malay language, thus damaging the integrity of the language among the nation's people.
Hjh Aminah also said that as the Language and Literature Bureau has been entrusted with the responsibility of fortifying the status of the Malay language in the country, the bureau would never ease off in executing its mission and vision of developing and propagating the use of Malay as the state's official language.
The acting director further assured that the bureau will continuously make efforts to elevate the status of Malay as an educational and developmental language that is relevant to the current growth and advancement of science and technology as well as the cyber world.
Yesterday saw the presentation of prizes to winners of the radio quiz which was held in collaboration with Radio Televisyen Brunei (RTB) through National FM from September 26 to October 4 with more than 400 participants taking part.
The main purpose of the radio quiz was to raise awareness among the community on the importance of the Malay language and its development ever since it was constituted as the Sultanate's official language in 1959.
The radio quiz was also held in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Malay language, which fell on September 29 this year.
The Brunei Times