Use more Bahasa Melayu in tourism sector - Malaysia government special adviser

A Special Adviser to the Malaysian government is urging the tourism sector in the country to use more Bahasa Melayu, reported state news agency Bernama. 

Tan Sri Dr. Rais Yatim, President of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Special Adviser to the Malaysian Government on socio-cultural matters, pointed to tourists learning Bahasa Indonesia when visiting the country as a 'model' for Malaysia. 

He suggested Bahasa Melayu and English be promoted together in the tourism industry and called for Malaysia to collaborate with Brunei, Singapore and southern Thailand, where Bahasa Melayu is spoken, to strengthen the use of the language regionally before promoting it at the global level. 

He underlined that the effort should not be undertaken by the government alone but required the cooperation of all relevant industry stakeholders, reported Bernama.

Tan Sri Dr. Rais Yatim was speaking to reporters last week at a two-day conference related to language, tourism, management and issues pertaining to social sciences and humanities, organised by IIUM in association with Prince of Songkla University, Trang Campus of Thailand, Sultan Agung Islamic University (Indonesia), Vincent Pol University in Lublin (Poland) and Malaysian e-Learning Council for Public University (MEiPTA).

The Malay language is spoken primarily in Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore, where it is a national or official language. It is called Bahasa Malaysia in Malaysia and Bahasa Melayu in Brunei and Singapore. It is also spoken by ethnic Malays in southern Thailand.

The language is very similar to Bahasa Indonesia, with some lexical differences.