Dewan Bahasa moots new Act to provide enforcement powers

 

Chairman of DBP’s board of directors, Prof Awang Sariyan, said the Act would detail enforcement action and the imposition of fines to safeguard the national language. (File pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) has suggested that a new Act be drafted to provide the body with more authority.

This is especially in terms of enforcement relating to the misuse of language as well as to provide accreditation to uphold the standard of the language at various levels, said chairman of DBP’s board of directors, Prof Awang Sariyan.

He said the draft of the new Act, which is now at the education ministry, needed to be brought to the Cabinet for approval before it could be presented to Parliament.

“The suggested new Act will have a clearer roadmap compared to the existing DPB Act 1959, encompassing allocations for rating, enforcement, commercialisation, accreditation and internationalisation by DBP,” he said.

Prof Awang Sariyan.

Awang, who is also a Dewan Negara member, said they had prepared a suggested amendment to the DBP Act 1959 last year to empower the functions of DBP.

However, it was still being reviewed by the education ministry after taking the views of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) into consideration.

Awang said the AGC had suggested that a new Act should be drafted as the suggested amendments covered too many issues.

He added that the new Act would contain provisions for enforcement, which was important as DBP had only been given the authority to advise and guide the use of language without any legal support.

“DBP will not penalise or issue fines as its priority. But there needs to be provisions for legal enforcement for the use of the country’s official language to build a stronger country.

“The enforcement mechanism that will be detailed includes administrative action, with the coordination of other bodies, and the imposition of fines in accordance with the Toubon Law 1994 in France,” Awang said.

With the suggested rating function, he said DBP could become an authoritative body for rating the level of language implementation and quality at ministries, departments, agencies and other public authorities.

He said this was in line with Article 152(6) regarding the Malay language as the official language of the federal and state governments, along with public authorities.

“The accreditation function suggested in the new Act will enable DBP to function like the British Council, Alliance Francaise and other bodies in the world in accrediting and honouring whichever party in terms of the use of the national language,” he added.

Awang also said that other suggestions included the provision to enable DBP to establish corporations to mobilise the agency’s business functions more effectively and contribute to the country’s finances. - FMT