SOCIAL media users have poured scorn on Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka’s (DBP) recent announcement on the “correct” Malay spelling of thosai, Malaysia Nanban reported.
DBP had put out a graphic proclaiming the traditional Indian food should be spelled as tose instead of tosai.
Many social media users slammed the decision, claiming it did not represent the correct phonetic pronunciation of the word in Tamil.
Many felt this would cause unnecessary confusion when pretty much all races in the country already knew it as thosai.
One angry commenter said DBP had no right to decide how a Tamil word should be pronounced or try to teach the community how to pronounce something they grew up with since childhood.
One activist identified as Mitchel Jesudas said DBP should have had consulted native speakers instead of “trying to stuff ideas down people’s throats”.
> Johor state exco member Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor denied allegations the state had reduced the allocation of low-cost housing units for the Indian community, Malaysia Nanban also reported.
The Johor housing and local government committee chairman clarified the issue during a ceremony to hand over essential items to the Indian community in conjunction with Deepavali.
He said some had alleged the state had reduced the low-cost housing allocation for the Indian and Chinese communities.
“This is not true and the 10% quota still stands,” he said.
The state had also made the application easier with only five documents needed to be submitted instead of the 17 previously.
The government was also encouraging applicants to complete the online process themselves rather than using agents as some companies were trying to profiteer by charging up to RM5,000 for this, he said.
● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.
