M'sia and Indonesia should jointly expand languages - Rais

He said that with the joint efforts, the two countries could preserve the authenticity of their languages so that they would not lose out to English.

Rais said among the challenges faced by both countries now was the absorption of English words in their languages until their beauty was destroyed and nature changed.

"Excessive use of the English language will totally change the nature of the Malay and Indonesian languages. Someday, if we do not correct the direction of our languages, then we will lose their authenticity. If this happens, our race will no longer be recognisable through languages," he said.

Rais said this in his speech after receiving the Mahaputra Award from Indonesian news agency Antara, here today.

The award is the highest recognition given by Antara to those who have made valuable contributions in language development and the journalism field.

Rais said English has become the language of knowledge in both countries and it was a worrisome development as the Malay and Indonesian languages also have knowledge terms in a variety of disciplines.

"Therefore, we need to to compete with this situation so that someday the Malay and Indonesian languages will have a place as the language of knowledge, just like the English language at the moment," he said.

He said it was regretted that there were some people who remained passive about the ability of the Malay language as the language of knowledge on the grounds that English was a global language.

Rais said if indigenous languages were given precedence in various knowledge fields including science and technology in countries like China and Japan, there was no reason why the Malay language could not achieve that level if both countries could join forces in efforts to expand the language.

Meanwhile, Antara director Saiful Hadi said Rais was chosen as an award recipient for his dedication, contributions and efforts in expanding the Malay and Indonesian languages worldwide.