The Malay Documentation Centre of the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Malaysia): From Philology to the Social Sciences

Abstract

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) is a unique organization, established with the intention of realizing the nationalistic dreams of Malays to enhance the position of their language to be a national and modern language in a post-colonial state (Malaya). Since its inception, the DBP was entrusted with multiple roles – publishing school textbooks for the newly established educational system, enlarging the corpus of modern terminologies for the language, conducting research on Malay traditional literature, and even developing a modern Malay literature. The library of DBP, however, was initially perceived to be no more than a departmental library for the organization. Later the library was even perceived to be a public library – providing reference materials and reading space for secondary school students. As the research activities of the various departments within the DBP increased, the library became more and more involved in systematic custodianship of research materials on Malay language and literature – including the acquisition of manuscripts. The library also became a depository of newspaper and periodicals clippings in order to assist DBP's interest in modern Malay literature, which can basically be described as a ‘newspaper or periodical literature’. In the early stages, the research orientation of DBP – and therefore the acquisition policy of the library – was greatly influenced by the orientation of Malay (Oriental) Studies scholars in the West. Later, as the orientation changed, the scope also changed to cover the various fields of modern social sciences. These changes in orientation and acquisition policy have contributed greatly towards making the library (now known as the Malay Documentation Centre) a rich source of materials on the Malays – not just their language and literature but also other aspects of their social and cultural life.