Citing Article 161 of the Federal Constitution on additional protections for Sabah and Sarawak, he said it states that Sarawak has the freedom to continue using English and also its native languages together with Bahasa Malaysia as an official medium of communication.

As of today, he said, the state has not passed any ordinance or enactment in the Sarawak legislation to restrict or terminate the use of English as its official language as stated in Article 161(3) of the Federal Constitution, the Inter-Governmental Committee and the Cobbold Commission reports.

He said Section 1(2) of the National Language Act 1963/67 (revised 1971) provides that with regards to Sabah and Sarawak, the respective state authorities may adopt the National Language Act by enactments of the legislatures of the respective states.

“This means that Sarawak, upon closer look at the wordings of the said National Language Act, has the liberty to decide as to whether it would adopt the national language, which is Bahasa Malaysia, or to continue using English as the official language.

“At present, there has not been any ordinance or enactment that has been brought and passed in the Sarawak state legislature to adopt Bahasa Malaysia as their official language,” he said in a statement today.

Wan Junaidi said the National Language Act states that Bahasa Malaysia is the official language for all official purposes, with some limitations as stated in Section 1(2) with regards to the position of the national language of Sabah and Sarawak.

“However, Sarawak has not adopted the National Language Act as no law has been passed in the state legislature to extend the said Act to Sarawak as required under Article 152, read together with Article 161 of the Federal Constitution.

“Hence, Sarawak, unlike other states in the federation, is not required to use Bahasa Malaysia for official purposes,” he said.