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The Role of Bahasa Indonesia to Maintain National Unity, Identity, and Diversity

The Indonesian people consist of hundreds of ethnic groups, with each group havi
ng distinctlanguage, art, tradition and custom. Those ethnic groups politically
and geographically unite into a nation, the Indonesian nation, under the Unitary
State of the Republic of Indonesia,with Pancasila as its state philosophy. It w
as during the second Indonesian Youth Congress on Oct. 28, 1928, that the Bahasa
Indonesia, the Indonesian Language, was for the first time declared as lingua f
ranca for ethic groups residing in the territory now called Indonesia. The event
called as the “Youth Pledge” was the starting point of the all ethnic groups to
work together to build one nation and one motherland, Indonesia.
Although Indonesia consists of more than 214 million people living in more than
600 out of 18,108 islands, and have more than 1,000 ethnic groups with their own
customs, languages, and cultures. However all ethnic and racial groups are equ
al. This can be seen from the national language, Bahasa Indonesia that was deriv
ed from a small ethnic group, Malay language in eastern coast of Sumatra even th
ough the biggest ethnic group is the Javanese
Considering the existing pluralism of the Indonesian people, this consists of mo
re than 1.000 ethnic and sub-ethnic groups with different languages, cultures, a
nd traditions. Its unwavering commitment is also reflected in Indonesia's motto
"Bhinneka Tunggal Ika", which means "Unity in Diversity".
Language policy and planning are the main issues in regard to Bahasa Indonesia a
s a National language in multilingual country in which hundreds of different eth
nic languages are spoken. Since ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ was developed from Malay as a
lingua franca in the early days, it was planned to meet the requirements of the
language for nationwide education, politics, mass media, and economic. However,
the determination of Bahasa Indonesia as the state language, as stated in the n
ational constitution (UUD 1945), affect the Indonesian citizen in regards to the
ir language and identity.
The essence of Indonesia’s current policy date from chapter XV, article 36 of th
e Indonesian constitution (the language of the state shall be the Indonesian Lan
guage ) written in 1945 which mandate linguistics unity in the formal adoption o
f Bahasa Indonesia as the sole national and official language (Lowenberg, 1992:
65) The role of Bahasa Indonesia expresses the symbol of national pride and iden
tity and serves as a tool for the unification of the Indonesia’s diverse ethnic,
cultural, and language groups (Lowenberg, 1992:66) Because of the language dive
rsity, forming or choosing a language which is neutral in Indonesia is essential
to maintain national unity, identity and diversity.
To avoid conflict in determining a language in a national policy in which hundre
ds of languages are involved ‘clear or explicit’ language policy is essential (L
oBianco, 1987:24), for Indonesia, in declaring Bahasa Indonesia as the National
and State language strengthened the position of the language in the nationwide.
The multilingual and multicultural make up of Indonesia creates the need for exp
licit policy direction in regard to a national language. Having an explicit poli
cy to use ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ as the national language, it enables people from di
fferent cultural background to communicate to each other all over the country. M
oreover, Bahasa Indonesia is able to fulfill its function in official and formal
activities within nationwide. However, the ethnic languages may still dominat
e in interpersonal functions in home and family life. (Dubin & Ohlstain, 1986:7)
As a neutral language, ‘Bahasa Indonesia can be used in all kinds of situations
among the members of different ethnic groups. However the strong position of ‘Ba
hasa Indonesia in nationwide communication may ‘threaten’ the position of the et
hnic languages and the existence of the ethnic identities. The loss of ethnic la
nguages for example Javanese or Sundanese could lead the loss of ethnic identity
because language is absolutely important to cultural integrity and survival (G
eary, 1997:56) In other words, a Javanese has not having the ability to Speak Ja
vanese by other Javanese (Gudykunts & Sschimidt, 1988:3).
Jakarta is the place where the centralized government conducts its function. Peo
ple from all over of Indonesia moves to Java Island especially to Jakarta due to
many reason like education, and carrier reason. Therefore, it is possible that
on the Island of Java a multilingual environment may persist, By moving to Java
Island, people may lose their ethnic identity and change to ‘metropolis’ identi
ty. People who move to Jakarta, as the capital city of Indonesia, would consider
themselves as ‘Orang Jakarta’ (Jakarta People) as their social identity. They m
ay shift their regional language to ‘Jakarta Dialect’. As it would, if they cont
inued to use their first language(s) here language may function as social identi
ty.
In addition, language is defined as a means of communication. Therefore the lang
uage to be chosen for communication needs to be decided by those responsible for
implementing a language for a nationwide communication. In the case of Bahasa I
ndonesia (BI), political power plays a significant role in determining the funct
ion, status, and development of the language. As Bahasa Indonesia originated fro
m Malay, it appears to be different from its origin because it has been develope
d and cultivated in line with the changing of society overtime. It is the govern
ment body ‘ Pusat Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa’ ( Language Development and
Cultivation) which has the authority to ‘up-grade the language. Regarding politi
cal stabilization in a country with hundreds of ethnic languages, language plann
ing is an attempt to interfere deliberately with a language or one of its variet
ies (Wardaugh, 1955:347). The case of Bahasa Indonesia as it has been determined
as a national language, the government has its right to change or alter the lan
guage to meet the society requirement.
Choosing Bahasa Indonesia as the national language cannot be separated from the
political movement which led to Indonesia independence. Bahasa Indonesia has bee
n permitted to be used since 1908 under the Dutch Colonialism. In 1928, the Oath
of the Youth strengthened the position of Bahasa Indonesia as the unifying lang
uage to support and promote the national movement to gain Independence.
The flourishing usage of ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ meant sacrifice of some ethnic langu
ages. It’s because the awareness of stabilization of nationwide communication, p
eople from different ethnic group have not been willing to speak in their ethnic
language. At the same time, there has been a loss of ethnic identity. In the ca
ses of mixed family, from different ethnic groups, the children may consider Bah
asa Indonesia as their mother tongue. Because of this, they may not consider the
mselves as the members of a particular ethnic group but as the member of Indones
ia as a nation.
As social identity is also determined by language attitudes and language use, pe
ople who marry a member of another ethnic group may face problems in social iden
tity and their ethnic language maintenance. It also happens to people who migrat
e or move from one region to another region because of marriage and / or employm
ent. They try to adapt to their new environment, including their language, to be
accepted by the neighborhood and work place environment.
Kridalaksana argues that the Indonesian should evaluate themselves about their w
illingness and competence to use the national language in their cultural life an
d also face the globalization era. He proposes that Bahasa Indonesia should be a
means of modern communication and also national identity. Although Kridalaksana
mentions preserving the ethnic languages in dynamic of ethnic lives, it is sign
ificantly difficult to maintain the ethnic languages. Instead the position of Ba
hasa Indonesia becomes stronger by incorporating regional code to enrich the lan
guage (Tanner, 1972:134), However the flourishing of foreign language teaching i
n Indonesia may also be a ‘threat’ to the position of Bahasa Indonesia as a mean
s of communication in educational environment. The implementation of program at
some educational institution may encourage the learners to use foreign language,
which they learn actively inside and outside class room. Based on this reason,
the position of Bahasa as a national Identity may be influenced on it; the forei
gn language learner would prefer to use the target language (English) as it is k
nown for communication, as it is known that English is an international and pres
tigious language. .
English as an international language is becoming a global language. Here, Englis
h is used in all kind of field. In applying job, job promotion, continuing furth
er study, or doing business with other country, English is significantly needed.
Therefore, the position of English in Indonesia is becoming stronger and strong
er. In this case English may be considered as a ’threat’ to the position of Baha
sa Indonesia as a national identity. As a consequence, Bahasa Indonesia should b
e develop and maintain to fulfill the requirement of a modern language.

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