The Education Ministry is seeking to promote the use of sign language at official functions and among all Malaysians.

At a gathering in Putrajaya today, Education Minister Maszlee Malik was joined on stage by a sign language translator Syar Meeze Mohd Rashid.

Syar Meeze told Malaysiakini after the minister’s speech that in the past, the services of sign language translators would only be used when there were events involving the deaf community.

"But this is going to be more regular now, for the minister wants to empower sign language," the 29-year-old said.

Met by reporters later, Maszlee confirmed that sign language translators will be featured more prominently and that he himself was trying to learn how to communicate with sign language.

"I encourage everyone to learn sign language," he said.

Malaysia has its own standard form of sign language, known as Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia (BIM), which is based on American Sign Language.

The Malaysian Federation of the Deaf last year launched a free mobile app called MyBIM, which teaches the use of BIM.

MyBIM is available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store.