Malaysia's official language Bahasa Melayu could become a dead language like Latin unless it starts to be used in business and science, a minister said according to a report Thursday.

Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage Dr Rais Yatim said Bahasa needed to become more useful and not just play the role of a lingua franca or a language for communication between people.

"If it remains at the level of lingua franca , it will be unable to leap forward," he said, lamenting the wide usage of English in information and communication technology, commerce and the private sector.

Technical subjects

"We need to build up Bahasa Melayu in technical subjects. Otherwise Bahasa Melayu may go the same way as Latin, beautiful in sound but no longer in use," he said.

Most Malaysians speak Bahasa, which is very similar to Indonesia's national language Bahasa Indonesia, but English is widely used in the professional and commercial arenas.

Chinese and Indian languages are also commonly used among the country's large minority communities.