KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Minister has called on members of Parliament to actively contribute to enriching and elevating the status of the Malay language, emphasising that its vocabulary is continually evolving.
In her winding-up speech on the 2025 Supply Bill in the Dewan Rakyat today, Minister Fadhlina Sidek pointed out that many words once commonly used were now considered classic.
"For example, tetuang udara used to refer to radio, and lereng was once the term for a bicycle. Ujana Ilmu refers to Taman Ilmu," she said.
She said that many Nusantara words, not just regional terms but also dialect words from various ethnic groups, had already been absorbed into the Malay language, with some now accepted as standard usage.
"This process of one language absorbing elements from another happens in all languages around the world," she added.
Fadhlina said that many of these words had already been included in the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka dictionary, with terms like sohor (trending) featured in the Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu.
Other examples include ketimbang (compared to), tatanan (arrangement), intihar (closure), mahsul (yield), purbasangka (prejudice), taakul (reasoned decision-making), kesenjangan (disparity), tiwikrama (to strive for goals), walhasil (therefore), mahakaya (wealthy), kebhinekaan (varieties), and tatakelola (governance).
"We cannot afford to be living under a rock, isolating ourselves from the natural evolution of language.
"We must seize every opportunity to continue developing our language. It's essential that we overcome any purbangsaka (prejudices) against this process, as the evolution and growth of our language should be encouraged," she added.