The Language and Literature Bureau (, DBP) is the

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

an language authority of the country's official language Malay. It is also the operator of public libraries in the country. It was established in 1960 and is now a government department under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

History

The establishment of the (Language Board) began with the approval of an (

motion In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an o ...

) during a

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

meeting on 18 April 1960. The motion was to establish an independent body answerable to the government with the function of consolidating the status of Malay as the official language of Brunei, as enacted in the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

() which was promulgated in the previous year. However, it was later renamed to ''Bahagian Bahasa dan Pustaka'' (Language and Literature Section) in 1962. At the time it was established under the authority of ''Jabatan Pelajaran'' (

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

). On 1 January 1965, it was made into a separate department and eventually adopted the name ''Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka'' (Language and Literature Bureau). In 1984, the agency was subsumed under the authority of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

Dictionary and other publications

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei publishes Kamus Bahasa Melayu Brunei, the official dictionary of the

Brunei Malay language The Brunei Malay, also called Bruneian Malay (; Jawi: ), is the most widely spoken language in Brunei Darussalam and a lingua franca in some parts of Sarawak and Sabah, such as Labuan, Limbang, Lawas, Sipitang, and Papar.Clynes, A. (2014). ...

, the de facto lingua franca in Brunei. The dictionary was first published in 1991 and it is currently in its second edition, with entries over 15,000. The Dewan also publishes four journals, namely Bahasa, Beriga, Pangsura and Undang-Undang Syariah, as well as three magazines, namely Bahana, Juara Pelajar and Mekar.

Public libraries

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei operates all public libraries in the country, which include: *

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Library The Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Library () or simply Dewan Bahasa Pustaka Library, is a public library located in Pusat Bandar of Bandar Seri Begawan, was initiated in 1965 and completed in 1968. Designed in the Constructivist architecture, the buil ...

* Sengkurong Library * Muara Library * Lambak Kanan Library * Tutong District Library *

Kuala Belait Library Daerah Belait Library (, officially ') is a public library located in Kuala Belait, Brunei. It is one of the public libraries operated by . History The library was established on 14 July 1975, initially located at Jalan Bunga Raya. It moved ...

* Kampong Pandan Library * Seria Library * Temburong District Library Since 1970, it also has introduced

mobile library A bookmobile, or mobile library, is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Boo ...

services, locally known as .

References

External links

Gerbang Bahasa , Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei website

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei website

Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports website
{{Authority control Language regulators Malay language Government of Brunei 1960 establishments in Brunei