Malaysia chosen as centre for Arabic Language empowerment in Southeast Asia

NILAI: Malaysia has been selected as the centre for Arabic Language empowerment in the Southeast Asia region that will be established at the Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) here.

USIM deputy vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Hassan Basri Awang Mat Dahan said this selection was made after the USIM and the World Organisation for the Renaissance of Arabic Language (WORAL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) in Qatar in February.

“After a series of visits between USIM and WORAL, we have agreed to establish an Arabic centre or ‘Ruknu Arabi' corner at the USIM library.

“The establishment of ‘Ruknu Arabi' is expected to help bring the Arabic language back to its glory in the region and WORAL places high level of confidence and expectation on Malaysia,” he said at a press conference in conjunction with the World Arabic Language Day 2017 celebration here yesterday.

The event was officiated by USIM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Musa Ahmad. Also present was WORAL director-general Dr Ali Ahmed Khubaisi.

Hassan Basri said it was an honour for USIM to be selected to house ‘Ruknu Arabi' in the region, that was fully sponsored by WORAL and the Qatar Foundation at RM700,000.

Meanwhile, Musa, in his opening speech, said that WORAL for the first time celebrated the six-day World Arab Language Day celebration, which runs from Thursday, in Malaysia as it was previously held in Qatar. - Bernama