KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 — It seems we have been spelling “tosai” wrongly in Bahasa Melayu all this while.

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) recently stirred up a heated debate among Malaysians on social media after it said the correct spelling for the traditional Indian crepe-like dish made from rice flour is “tose”.

“I think Dewan Bahasa sometimes forgets that language is determined by the living; the kamus (dictionary) should be updated to reflect how people use language, not the other way round,” reads a tweet by @Jinggyyi.

Another user, @JerralSteve, tagged DBP and said leave the spelling to the Indian community since the dish is originated from them.

Some users also came to DBP’s defence by saying that ‘tose’ is the correct spelling based on the dictionary.

“DBP is just sharing the official version of the spelling in Bahasa Melayu.

“At least this is how it is supposed to be spelled in the Kamus Dewan,” said @fronssonice.

DBP’s clarification came after the national news agency Bernama posted a photo of the caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob while trying to cook the traditional dish with the Indian community in Bera, Pahang.

In the post, Bernama had spelled the dish as “tose” which received backlash from Twitter users.

Although the tweet was published on October 16, the criticism over the right spelling of the dish has grown ever since.

This is not the first time that DBP has courted controversy.

Last year, DBP riled up social media users when it used the derogatory term, “keling” to refer to the Indian community on its website.

However, to put an end to the controversy, DBP Director-General Abang Sallehuddin Abg Shokeran told Malaysiakini that the department will replace the word “keling” with the word “Indian”.

Malay Mail reached out to DBP on October 18 for clarification over the matter, but has not received a reply.