KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — Making Bahasa Melayu (Malay language) the language for business and the economy is one of the three thrusts of the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) Strategic Plan from 2021 to 2025, with the aim to preserve and broaden the use of the Malay language and its literature.

Senior Education Minister, Datuk Dr Mohd Radzi Jidin, said that the plan also seeks to make the Malay language the language of the nation, and of knowledge.

"DBP's big responsibility is upholding the Malay language, pursuant to Article 152 of the Federal Constitution, which stipulates Bahasa Melayu as the national language, and based on this the strategic plan has been developed.

"For the success of this plan, commitment, determination, unity, diligence, and the cooperation of all parties, especially the top management and staff of DBP, are needed to achieve the set targets,” he said at the DBP 65th Anniversary celebrations and the launch of the DBP Strategic Plan 2021-2025, via DBP’s official Facebook account today.

He added that DBP has diversified its approach to promoting the content of the heritage, including through the use of digital platforms in accordance with current developments.

 "In terms of publishing, of course, there are ups and downs. I am confident that DBP is on the right track to face the challenges of the digital world in producing quality publications,” he said.

Meanwhile, DBP director-general, Datuk Abang Sallehuddin Abang Shokeran, said that the Covid-19 pandemic had opened up new ways of working at DBP, by digitisation of most programmes, and implementation online.

"This is a new narrative brought by DBP, on how to develop and build the Malay language using new methods; the new narrative for digitisation involves the workings and operations of DBP, without forgetting the conventional publishing business that will continue to be implemented by DBP.

"Digitisation is one of the efforts to strengthen the delivery system in the future, and it requires DBP staff to move fast, think creatively and master new technologies, to ensure that the new media we use will be utilised effectively and optimally,” he said.

In conjunction with this year’s anniversary celebration, DBP has invited the community to understand the basis of the establishment of the agency, and its function in the context of construction and development of the national language and its literature, from 1956 until now. — Bernama