WHO IS B.D.K. SALDIN?

The name had never came across our mind until last year we went to Sri Lanka.We noticed that people kept on mentioning his name when talking about the Sri Lankan Malays. After we go through a book that had been given to us, we came to a conclusion that “he is a Sri Lankan Malay hero”. If in Malaysia we have Prof Awang Sariyan, A.Samad Said, and other Malay Language warrior, here in Sri Lanka, B.D.K SALDIN is the person that we can give our highest respect for his efforts of bringing the identity of Malay Sri Lanka. Here I highlight the personal background of B.D.K SALDIN.

B.D.K SALDIN B.A (Econ) is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. He was the director/secretary of Forbes and Walker Ltd until he retirement in 1988. He was keenly interested in the Sri Lankan Malay language as a vehicle for preserving the identity of his community in Sri Lanka.

He is the regular contributor to the “Terang”, a quarterly journal originally issued by the Kurunegala Malay Association and now carried on by a group of interested Malays. He successfully concluded a pilot project in teaching adults to read and write Malay under the auspices of the Sri Lankan Malay Association.

He has attended and presented papers at several International Malay Language Conferences in Malaysia, some of which have been published in the Journal Dewan Bahasa in Malaysia. In August 2000 he was elected to the International Council for the Malay Language (Majlis Antarabangsa Bahasa voluntari Melayu) situated in Kuala Lumpur and presented a paper at its first convention in August 2000. He is the author of “A Guide to Malay”, a text book approved by the National Institute of Education for the GCE Examination.

Hope this information helps us to know better about Malay warrior not only in Malaysia but all over the world. Knowing "someone" is a key to open a gap between culture and tradition of one country with another country.