Selfie, hashtag and tweet relevant part of Kamus Dewan - Academician

Zainal Abidin, who is also first secretary of Federation of National Writers Association, said many new words are needed so that Malaysians can communicate in a language which they often use.

"The use of selfie, hashtag and tweet is necessary as there is no Malay word to describe them accurately. As such, the words must be included in Kamus Dewan so that the people understand what they mean and can use them properly.

"There is no objection as words from other language such as technology and computer are used as standard language," he said when contacted by Bernama.

On May 25, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) director-general Datuk Dr Awang Sariyan said selfie,hastag and tweet will become part of Kamus Dewan (DBP dictionary) consistent with their extensive use by Malaysians.

Zainal Abidin said placing the 'bp' label or spoken language for the three words is in line with the development of spoken language but more studies must be done before they could be accepted as standard language.

Putting the words in Kamus Dewan would not compromise the purity of the Malay language but rather would enrich the vocabulary of the language. "We have long used other words in the Malay language such as almari from Portuguese, abjad from Arabic and biscuit from English," he added.

Selfie refers to the act of taking a self portrait to be uploaded to social networking sites using smartphones equipped with camera.