The Using of language in Indonesia

The language, as written in the Constitution of 1945, is one of the National identities. Also, the seminar of the national linguistic policy, 25- February 28, 1975 in Jakarta, reinforced this identity that in his capacity as the national language, the Indonesian’s language has some function as (1) symbol of national pride, (2) a symbol of national identity, (3) a unifying forces of the various communities which has different social origins, language and culture, and (4) a tools to connect intercultural and interregional (Center of the Language development, 1975:5).
Mansour Pateda in his book " Bahasa Indonesia Sebagai Identitas dan Penyatu Bangsa Menghadapi Pengubah Sosial ' ' said that: The figure who asserted that he is Indonesian, as a state or as a nation, is necessary has form of two realities, the Indonesian’s language as a identity of phonic, the flag of red and white, and Pancasila Garuda as a physical manifestation.
Therefore, the existence of the language cannot be ignored. But, in along with Indonesian’s age, language apparently has no longer a high bargaining value. The using of Indonesian’s language which is good and correct declines by the foreign language such as English which spreads in this country. The Median value of Indonesian’ subject at Ujian Nasional which is not better than the other subjects is the proof that the school do not affect their competences of Indonesian’s language. Unfortunately, certain people is prouder to use the foreign language that Indonesian’s language
Therefore, the minister of Education, Bambang Sudibyo in “Kongres Bahasa Indonesia Internasional” at Jakarta, October 28,2008, The development of Indonesian Language was seen in the rapid addition of words and terms in the Indonesian language. However, in the other side, there have been changes in public attitudes toward the Indonesian language. "Sense of pride in the Indonesian language which has put this language as a symbol of Indonesian national identity has been declining “he said.
This certain people’s attitudes, said the minister, can be seen from how they use language in public spaces in major cities in Indonesia. Moreover, certain people use foreign language or regional language which is not in the right place. Some publications, continued the minister took a part too.
The minister underlined, there are many book, films, or shop which using a foreign language for their title’s. In fact, said the minister, the contents are in Indonesian. ''However, I should point out here that nation building through identity politics does not mean we are against the other nation’s identity, "he said.
An observer of the language, Sawali Tuhusetya, which is famous in the virtual world with his writings, reveals some decay of Indonesian.
Firstly, the contamination is carried out by the media, written press and electronics. Undeniable, the media have the capacity to changing suggestion and persuasion which is so strong towards the public. In fact, now there are many people are addicted to information which has been presented by the media. It’s not incredible that the language of the media can influence the term of the public language.
The recurrence of particular language unit in a media often regarded as the right form, so that the public imitating it. The simplest example, the word " dimassa" (= to be beat), as in the sentence: " Pencopet yang tertangkap itu dimassa beramai-ramai oleh penduduk kampung ". In the Structure of Indonesian language, the prefix (not the preposition), the particle " di" who attached to noun (the substantive) which form the verb (verba) is almost never found. We never knows the verba ‘dirumah’, ‘dibatu’, ‘dibola’, etc. It’s same with the using of the signs of plural word " para" who should not be used in front of the plural substantive, like “para politisi” or “para kritikus” or “para politikus” or “para kritikus”.
It is not only in the formation of the words, the logical errors are still frequently showed in the using of language in the media. A TV host, for example, it seldom used the word: “Kepada Bapak…. waktu dan tempat kami persilakan…” who should be more effective and in sense if changed into “Bapak…. kami persilakan untuk menyampaikan sambutan”. They invited the person to speak, not speak to the time nor the place, didn’t they?
Secondly, the decomposition is carried out by the elite in the various layers and lines which should become a social fad in the language. In the culture of our company which has tendency of paternalist, the elite person, recognized or not, became the “Mecque" in the public language. We still remember when Suharto speaks with his own style, which change of the pronunciation /a/ with /ə/; So his followers imitate as a homage and at the same time "an obedience" in the form of expression. Pity, this pronunciation was imitated in RT/RW, so the citizens consider that this pronunciation is correct. In short, there are controversies between the standards of the language expressed by the Center of Language and the reality on the public.
Thirdly, the decay are made by the invasions of Indo-English’s word, intentionally or not, by our civil “Contemporary’s” servant. In the middle of Globalization, when the world had become a planetary village, the mixed code between the Indonesian’s languages and foreign are impossible to resisted. In fact, this mix-code will be enriching the forms of language and vocabulary of our language. However, it would be naive if the rule to translate of this mix-code is no longer heeding the speech-context. We are no more paying a heed to whom and in which situations we speak that often involve misunderstandings.
These circumstances exacerbated by the absence of formal rules by the government about the using of foreign languages in our life. The world’s development also contributed to bringing in some of foreign term which finally included in Indonesian’s language without coherent process absorption.
Consequently, the minister said, the most currently urgent is to provide a new vocabulary, especially related to the development of science and technology (science). According to minister, thus, the development of science and the technology which is fast can be applied in Indonesia. “Our job is to oversee that the process of adding the foreign elements to Indonesian vocabulary follow our linguistic rules which were made, so that Indonesian grow steadily and has its own logical system that is consistent from time to time, " , he says.
One of country which has a good escort language is French. This country formed the ‘Academie Français’ which has an authority to determine the absorption for each foreign word which entered in French, also, another language rules also regulated by these agencies. Even in Japan, foreign terms converted first in the local language before thrown into audience. Therefore, there is the term of terebita (television), whereas, Academie Français ever use the word “homme de la promenade’’ to replace the word “Walkman”. Although finally the public prefer to use the word “Walkman”, it is clear that the government is concerned with existence of their language.
While in Indonesia, heeding of inconsistent absorption elements of foreign terms into Indonesian, much of foreign terms, even this is not a patent such as Walkman ® and Bluetooth ®, which entered and, eventually be regarded as a part of the Indonesian language. We ever knew Balai Bahasa Indonesia, which introduced the term `unggah', `unduh', ‘infra merah', ‘peranti lunak', `komputer jinjing' to replace `upload', `download', `infrared', `software', `Laptop’ and so on. Our great media as Kompas had constantly use some words above. But as long as the time goes on, these words were sinker and sinker and finally became memories