Syed Nizamuddin Sayed Khassim said this in response to Yayasan Karyawan chief executive Datuk Zainal Abidin Borhan’s appeal to the Sarawak government to review its decision to make English an official language in the state.
He said Malay was still the number one official language and Sarawakians just decided to be bilingual.
“Being bilingual is not a zero-sum game. You do not have to kill one language to be bilingual. Brunei did just fine with most of the signage in Jawi and English,” said Syed Nizamuddin.
“English does not belong solely to the English people anymore. It is a global language in the truest sense – whereby people from different parts of the world use English differently on an everyday basis.”
The Kuching-born youth argued Sarawakians had let go of their formal Sarawak Malay to adopt Bahasa Malaysia.
He commented this move to have both Bahasa Malaysia and English as official languages was being realistic in pushing the way forward for Sarawakians.
“We adopted two languages which are not local in nature to move forward as globalized citizens of Malaysia,” he said.
“We believe that we will move forward and succeed despite the fact that many still think we live on trees.”
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