Bring back our literacy in local dialects<\/p>\n
Atmakusumah, Jakarta<\/p>\n
How many times in a week, or even in a day, is it that I
\nstumble in a conversation in my own national language, Bahasa
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
I realize at such moments that I am unable to finish my
\nsentence because I could only find the proper words for certain
\nthoughts in my mother tongue -- the Bahasa Sunda spoken by the
\nmajority of the West Javanese ethnic group -- but which may not
\nbe understood by my companions.<\/p>\n
Those particular words only exist in Bahasa Sunda, and most
\nlikely other people have encountered the same difficulty in their
\nown local languages and dialects, because those languages are
\nricher in vocabulary than the Indonesian language.<\/p>\n
With over 17,000 islands, Indonesia is home to more than 300
\nethnic groups comprising 250 languages and dialects. But many of
\nthe languages are no longer spoken fluently by the indigenous
\ngroups, a category that also includes myself and my children.<\/p>\n
My wife, by the way, still speaks fluently in both Bahasa
\nSunda and Bahasa Indonesia, as well as in Bahasa Jawa, the
\nlanguage of Central and East Javanese ethnic groups.<\/p>\n
Under the national motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika or "Diversity in
\nUnity", the culturally diverse country, however, has been
\ntransformed into a politically united entity since the day we
\nproclaimed independence.<\/p>\n
To live in this unitary state -- which was haunted for decades
\nby the specter of political and territorial disintegration -- we
\nhave been inculcated to learn and speak the national language
\nrather than our local dialects or ethnic languages, both at
\nschool and in society. In adhering to this, however, we have
\ngradually lost our cultural heritage -- that is, our literacy in
\nethnic languages.<\/p>\n
For example, only a very few senior citizens with the ability
\nto write in Sundanese or Javanese script remain. Media
\npublications in Sundanese and Javanese have also disappeared
\nrapidly over only a few decades. I believe this is also the case
\nwith other ethnic languages in other regions.<\/p>\n
What does this mean?<\/p>\n
It means we are losing, bit by bit, the diversity and
\nplurality of our precious culture, linguistically and otherwise
\n-- just as we are losing our indigenous wildlife and hence, our
\nbiodiversity.<\/p>\n
Cultures have their own value systems and views on life, and
\nit is therefore important to maintain pluralism in our national
\nculture. Being pluralistic, we expect our society to have respect
\nand a deep understanding of differences, tolerance and goodwill.<\/p>\n
It is believed that by recognizing and valuing differences, we
\ncan build a peaceful and sustainable society, Anton Sudarisman,
\ncoordinator of the Indonesian Peace Education Center, wrote in an
\nOct. 8 article in The Jakarta Post, titled "Why peace education
\nis urgent for Indonesia".<\/p>\n
JC Kapur, publisher and editor-in-chief of the New Delhi-based
\nWorld Affairs-The Journal of International Issues, says that
\nculture and civilization have often been considered
\ninterchangeable.<\/p>\n
Culture is a refined appreciation of the religious traditions,
\ncustoms, institutions or aesthetic achievements of a nation or a
\ngroup. Without respect for other cultures, a culture of global
\nharmony with an unexploitative compassionate and humane order
\ncannot be realized, he wrote in "Transcending the clash of
\ncivilizations" in the New Delhi journal's April-June 2003
\nedition.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, for the first time ever, an environmentalist,
\nWangari Maathai from Kenya, won this year's Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee, Ole Danbolt Mjoes,
\nsaid for the first time, the environment set the agenda for the
\nprize, and the committee had added a new dimension to peace. The
\nNobel committee expanded upon the peace concept to include
\nenvironmental issues because it believed that good quality of
\nlife on Earth was necessary to promote a lasting world peace.<\/p>\n
"Peace depends on our ability to secure our living
\nenvironment," Mjoes was quoted on Oct. 17 as saying by the
\nGuardian News Service, London.<\/p>\n
Because of the increasingly sophisticated and rapid
\nadvancement of communications technology, our lives today are
\nmore easily exposed to other cultures than ever before --
\nregionally and globally. It seems, therefore, that we should also
\nadd another new dimension to peace by expanding the peace concept
\nto include the broad issue of cultures, which could certainly
\ncontribute to the promotion of lasting peace in the world.<\/p>\n
The writer is a lecturer in journalism at the Soetomo Press
\nInstitute, or the Lembaga Pers Dr. Soetomo, in Jakarta. He is
\nthe 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Journalism, Literature and
\nCreative Communication Arts.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bring-back-our-literacy-in-local-dialects-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}