[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Language flexibility ensures survival
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 01:36:16 +0100
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**http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060125.E03&irec=2
Language flexibility ensures survival
Ahmad Qisa'i, Aligarh, India
Looking back at the history of Bahasa (language) Indonesia as the national
language of Indonesia, it was created less than a 100 years ago to be a lingua
franca for the diverse communities in the Indonesian archipelago. The original
form of this language was a coastal Malay dialect spoken by a small community
of people in the coastal areas of Sumatra.
Its flexibility as a form of communication among people in the archipelago as
compared to Javanese, the language of the largest number of Indonesians,
prompted the decision by the nationalists to declare Indonesian the official
language. The decision was widely known in Indonesian history as Sumpah Pemuda
(Youth Pledge) on Oct. 28, 1928.
The diverse nature of Indonesian society has made a common language of
communication a liability for it to succeed and survive as a united community.
A simple and flexible mode of communication capable of bridging the gaps
between communities will only guarantee the transformation process of Indonesia
from a diverse community into a single, strong nation. Selecting a coastal
Malay dialect as the national language instead of the much more complicated
Javanese language proved to be a correct choice.
Foreign languages like Dutch, Arabic, Sanskrit, French, English as well as
other local languages like Sundanese, Madurese and others have given a lot of
influence to the development of Bahasa Indonesia into its current position. The
efforts by previous regimes to encourage the usage of a proper and correct form
of Bahasa Indonesia in all forms of communication further elevated the
popularity of the language.
However, the waves of globalization have certainly had a lot of impact on the
development of the language. The flexible nature of the language has permitted
the "Indonesianization" of borrowed words from foreign languages to be a part
of an enriched Indonesian. This process, nevertheless, has resulted in a debate
of the pros and cons among scholars over the status of Bahasa Indonesia here
amid the continuous waves of globalization.
The most recent such remarks came from the language center director at the
Education Ministry, Dendy Sugono, when he said that the current practice of
using non-Indonesian words on billboards and other things, has threatened the
future of the national language. This practice, he predicted, would marginalize
the language and thus would become a threat to national unity. To avert such a
threat, he suggested that the local administrations enact laws preventing the
use of foreign terminology in public.
However, it is such flexibility that has made the language so popular. Its
ability to adjust itself to the situation has proved to be effective in its
development. Had it been another language, for example, Javanese, it would have
been difficult for it to adjust to the globalizing world.
Thus, to be worried about the future status of Bahasa Indonesia due to the
widespread use of foreign terminology, like English, in Indonesia should not be
exaggerated. On the contrary, the flexibility shown by the language will only
help it to survive the waves of globalization.
The language will benefit from this inevitbale globalization. Continuous
efforts by the government to popularize the use of proper and correct forms of
the language while at the same time encouraging the people to learn and use
foreign languages instead of discouraging them, will help the process of
building Indonesia to be a strong and powerful nation in the future.
The writer is Post-Graduate Student at the Aligarh Muslim University in
Aligarh, India. He can be reached at qisai@xxxxxxxxxx
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia
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