CYBERJAYA, May 10 — There are about 2,110 registered users in Malaysia who have Internationalised Domain Names (IDN) and email addresses in Chinese, Jawi and Tamil scripts, according to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

MCMC Licensing and Monitoring Division head Stella Jeevani Navaratnam said of the users registered till April this year, 1,126 were registered for the Chinese IDNs, 828 for Jawi IDNs and the rest for Tamil IDNs.

"The use of IDN, which allows users to register domain names and email addresses in non-Latin scripts, can help make the Internet more accessible and inclusive,” she said when met after the Malaysia’s Universal Acceptance Day programme here today.

Although the number is less than one per cent of the total number of users registered under the .my domain, MCMC sees that the acceptance and adaptation of scripts in non-Latin languages can be expanded through universal acceptance.

"Universal acceptance is seen as an opportunity for anyone to access the Internet using the language or script of their choice, in addition to using standard characters,” she said.

According to Stella Jeevani, 318,210 users have registered under the .my domain as of last month.

"Universal acceptance is important to encourage the use of local languages and scripts on the Internet as this is an important aspect in celebrating cultural diversity and linguistic inclusion, as well as highlighting and promoting Malaysia’s uniqueness as a multiracial country,” she added. — Bernama