Francis Paul Siah, head of the Movement for Change, Sarawak, said there is nothing wrong with speaking both Bahasa Malaysia and English or other languages to a mixed audience at official events.

“Anwar’s instruction is not in tandem with the government’s encouragement of Malaysians to pick up different languages,” he said.

On Monday, Anwar had urged leaders and members of official government councils to use Bahasa Malaysia as a medium of instruction as part of the effort to uphold it as a “language of knowledge”.

He said there had been press conferences organised by the government using a mixture of Bahasa Malaysia and English, “which failed to mirror the PH government’s stand to uphold the Malay language”.

“I urge that all who want to have a press conference to do it all in Malay, and if there is a need to answer a question in English, or it is an international conference, then you can talk in English,” he said.

Siah said a leader did not have to instruct or insist on a certain language be spoken as long as the speaker’s message was understood by his audience.

“This is something that Anwar, as the incoming prime minister, should take a cue from,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sarawak tourism minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said conversing in English would not make the people less patriotic.

“Why must we be so paranoid to the extent of putting English aside just because our official language is Bahasa Malaysia?

“What’s important is that the message can be relayed to the audience by the speaker,” he said.

Karim said Bahasa Malaysia and English were the state’s official languages.

“Both languages are used in all official correspondences as well as debates in the state legislative assembly,” he said.