Putrajaya proposing to make Malay the second language of ASEAN, says PM Ismail Sabri

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will discuss with regional leaders to make Bahasa Melayu or Malay as the second language of Association of Southeast Asian Nations , said Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Wednesday .

He said during his visit to Cambodia recently, he was informed there were 800,000 Malay-Chams who used Malay and in Vietnam, there were some 160,000 Malay speakers among those of Malay-Cham ancestry.“Hence in the whole of ASEAN there are people who can speak Malay. Therefore there is no reason why we cannot make Malay as one of the official languages of ASEAN," Mr Ismail Sabri said.

Mr Ismail Sabri said that he always asked the foreign ministry to prepare for him speaking notes and related documents in Malay for his reference when conducting overseas official trips. Mr Ismail Sabri said that some of the children of the diplomatic officers have weak command of the Malay language because they study in international schools.

“The time has come for us to be proud of the Malay language, as such there is no reason for us to feel awkward about speaking Malay even at the international stage, as language is the soul of the nation,” he told party delegates.

And that is the best idea they got 😂😂

And the first language will be all others ASEAN countries languages

The dumb gets dumber.

Idiots

Laughter is the best medicine.

To get punished for language errors is unnecessary... i rather not pick up at all..

No. As a Malay, I have the rights to reject this idea. Why? Because there are other Southeast Asia countries do not speak Malay. Please do not waste time, effort and money. Resolve the Rohinyas and Myanmar issue. It's been years. What is the progress so far?

Useless!

PM Ismail Sabri is full of nonsense. Nothing better to do other than proposing to make Malay the second language of ASEAN.

Hahaha y tho. Y so ambitious?

then Chinese should be third ASEAN language given that there are signifcant Chinese speakers in Malaysia, Singapore. There are also some Chinese speakers in Myanmmar, North Vietnam and Thailand (ex-KMT eventually settle there for those didnt go Taiwan)

Wow! What an monstrous vision by our PM!

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