PETALING JAYA: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka is to remove the word “keling” from a disputed definition in its online dictionary following an outcry over the term which is regarded as a slur.
“The online dictionary will be updated. The word “Keling” will be replaced with “India” (for definitions) in line with the more recent dictionaries published by DBP,” its executive director Abang Sallehuddin Abg Shokeran told Malaysiakini.
He also said the next edition of its Kamus Pelajar will also be updated.
The controversial definition appears when a search for the word “tambi” is conducted at the Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu, the online dictionary reference site.
The first result is the definition “panggilan utk orang Keling yg lebih muda drpd kita” with a secondary definition of a “peon” or office boy. However, the definition in the fourth edition of the main Kamus Dewan is “panggilan utk orang India yg berpangkat adik”.
This led to politicians, including DAP’s Charles Santiago and Kasthuri Patto, questioning why an outdated definition remains on an online dictionary.
Separately, Dewan Bahasa also said the latest version of its Kamus Dewan Perdana mentions that the word is taboo.
The language agency said its publications were a “living dictionary” that recorded history but were also updated with the changes in time.
It said that in 2003, a legal challenge was mounted to remove “keling” from the Kamus Dewan, but the court ruled that the word could be retained as “there was no mala fide”.-FMT