Excusez-moi, señor Ismail wants M'sian names for roads, housing areas

Former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is far from pleased that there are residential areas and streets with foreign names, such as in French and Spanish.

To curb this practice, he urged the government to amend the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) Act 1959 to give it more bite.

Speaking at Simposium Antarabangsa Aspirasi Bahasa Melayu in Kuala Lumpur today, he said during the previous symposium when he was still the prime minister, he expressed his commitment to amend the Act.

“There have been no developments since then and the last time the Act was amended was in 1985. It has been close to 40 years since the Act has been updated to keep up with current issues,” he added.

Ismail Sabri said DBP must be given greater powers to enforce the law so that it does not overlap with others, such as local councils.

“For example, when residential areas use non-Malaysian names, French or Spanish names. Although this is wrong, DBP is powerless, it cannot impose fines on the firms for using other languages for residential areas or roads,” he added.

The former premier said local councils have more power than the DBP in terms of enforcing language.

“This is the reason I am of the view that DBP should be given extra powers to take legal action against those who violate the DBP Act.

“But I have not heard (of plans to amend the Act). Hopefully, (this is done) soon. If not, we cannot do anything even if other languages are used (to name) streets and residential areas,” he added.

Apart from this, Ismail Sabri urged the government to fortify Bahasa Melayu by using it for official matters, especially when visiting foreign countries.

“I implemented this in the past. I did not hesitate to speak in Bahasa Melayu because this is our mother tongue,” he added.

In 2022, Ismail Sabri, clad in black Baju Melayu and songkok, became the first Malaysian premier to deliver his entire speech in the national language at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

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