Education Minister Maszlee Malik has mooted a decade dedicated to empowering Bahasa Melayu in Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and the world.

"We will launch the National Language Decade to outline a comprehensive plan to make the national language as the main language of choice in Malaysia, among Bahasa Melayu speakers in Asean, and a popular language on the world stage," he said at a ministry monthly gathering in Putrajaya today.

He said the programme will be spearheaded by the Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka, which he hoped would one day reach the level of institutions such as the British Council.