Dewan Banasa dan Pustaka Brunei (Language and Literature Council, DBP) is Brunei's central national agency dedicated to the development of language and literature in the country.
The official date of its creation is considered to be September 16, 1961, when the Language Committee was founded, which was later renamed the Department of Language and Literature of the Department of Education1 . The current name (effective January 1, 1965) was intended to emphasize the role of the DBP in promoting the Malay language, which was declared the official language of the State under article 82 (1) of the 1959 Constitution of Brunei .2 Over the 40 years of its existence, DBP has grown from a modest committee to the Sultanate's largest research and publishing center. It now employs more than a hundred specialists who carry out unique work to preserve and develop the Bruneian version of the Malay Language3 and literature, to translate the best examples of world literature into Malay, to prepare and publish dictionaries and encyclopedic publications.
The legislative basis for the Language and Literature Council's activities is the Government's decision, according to which the DBP is part of the Ministry of Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports as an autonomous body. DBP is not only responsible for the development of language and literature, but also for the preservation and development of culture in general. The first director of the Council was a prominent Brunei scholar Awang Mohamad Jamil (until 1977).
DBP has thirteen divisions-departments: administrative and operational, linguistics, research, textbook preparation, journal preparation, public relations, training and retraining of personnel, information technology, publishing, planning, reference and bibliographic (library) 4 . The Council's activities are fully funded by the State.
The most important activity of DBP is the development and enrichment of the national language. This task became particularly urgent after the Sultan of ...
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