DKI Jakarta Provincial Government Urged to Establish Its Own Language Office

The Head of the Banten Province Language Office, Devyanti Asmalasari, is encouraging the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government to propose the establishment of its own language office to strengthen linguistic and literary governance in the Jakarta region. “We encourage the regional government to recommend to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education that a DKI Jakarta language office be proposed for establishment,” she said at the Jakarta Cultural Symposium 2026 on Thursday. Devyanti stated that DKI Jakarta Province currently does not have its own language office. This is because, based on the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Regulation Number 47 of 2024 concerning the Organisation and Work Procedures of Language Centres and Language Offices, the working area of the Banten Province Language Office covers both Banten and DKI Jakarta. “We carry out linguistic and literary programmes in Banten Province and DKI Jakarta. Because our mobility from Banten to Jakarta incurs quite large operational costs, especially with the current budget efficiency measures, this certainly becomes one of the obstacles,” she explained. Specifically in Jakarta, the revitalisation of the Betawi language is one of the priority programme implementations of the Banten Province Language Office, and is now entering its third year. “We collaborate with the Education Agency, the Culture Agency, communities, experts, and academics. Because preserving regional languages requires collaboration and synergy,” Devyanti said. She noted that the preservation of regional languages is not solely the responsibility of the central or regional government, but also of communities, schools, the public, the media, and even families.