Sarawak Deputy Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Snowdan Lawan has called for the federal government to exempt Sarawak from the enforcement of Bahasa Malaysia to be used in the civil service with punitive measures. Calling the enforcement ‘regressive’, ‘ridiculous’ and not rational at all, Snowdan said that the measure could be oppressive to civil servants when it comes to their performance appraisal.
As reported by Dayak Daily, the Sarawak Deputy Minister claimed that there is simply no way that the people of Sarawak can avoid using English as their means of communication in the state. Hence, enforcing punitive measure will only make it sound like it is an offence to use English.
Snowdan, who is also the Parti Rakyat Sarawak Youth Chief asserted,
“Are you going to demerit a staff if they communicate in English in seminars, training or conventions? For this reason, we request that Sarawak be exempted or excluded from this regressive policy.”
Sarawak Deputy Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Snowdan Lawan (middle).
Based on the situation, Snowdan also called upon the federal government to give Sarawak autonomy in education.
What do you guys think of this statement by the Sarawak Deputy Minister? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
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