KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik wants the Institute of Language and Literature (DBP) to be more proactive in producing more literary works and books of quality.

He said DBP at present seemed to be lacking in momentum in promoting and developing language and culture in the country, and was not up to speed with his ministry.

He added that it was his dream to raise DBP’s level to be on par with the likes of the Goethe-Institute in Germany or the British Council in the United Kingdom.

"But I see that DBP is still ‘crawling’ (left behind) and not ‘running’ (keeping pace) with me. So I do not want my words to be merely buried in the Parliament Hansard,” he said when speaking at the launch of the strategic cooperation between the Malaysian Institute of Translation & Books and Pos Malaysia in conjunction with the #MalaysiaMembaca campaign at the Kuala Lumpur General Post Office here, today.

The Education Ministry was previously reported to be keen on making DBP a Malay language reference centre, on par with other language institutes in developed countries, within a period of five years. — Bernama