National-type schools (SJK) in the country have been urged to review the system of teaching and learning Malay to improve mastery of the language among their students.

Chairman of the Malay World Muslim World (DMDI) Tan Sri Mohd Ali Rustam said this should be done immediately so that there was no distinct gap in unity between SJK students and those from national schools.

"The Malay language is very important as it is a medium to unify the people and a very crucial identity of the nation, with better unity among all Malaysians who know the language.

"There is no excuse for Malay to be taken lightly, even in the national-type schools. In fact, the teaching of Malay should be on par with Mandarin or Tamil," he told reporters here last night.

He was speaking after officiating the 15th DMDI Youth Camp participated by 600 representatives from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. Also present was Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Idris Haron.

Yesterday, the media quoted Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) lecturer Prof Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seong as saying that 604 of the 14,000 participants of the National Service Training Programme could not speak Malay even though some of them had passed the subject in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.

Teo had also claimed that the number of non-Malay youths who could not speak the national language might increase in the future as almost 90 per cent of them studied in national-type schools.

Mohd Ali said that among the things which must be reviewed was a more effective teaching technique while the teaching period for Malay in the national-type schools must be increased to ensure greater fluency of the language among non-Malay students.

He said all students in the country should emulate nations like Indonesia which used the Indonesian language as a language of communication among the multi-racial population, including the Chinese.

"Unity is the most important aspect in a multi-racial country, which is why various efforts have been made, including the 1Malaysia Concept, and it is through Malay that we can achieve that aspiration," he said.