House Deputy Speaker Responds to Proposal to Rename West Java to Tatar Sunda

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Cucun Ahmad Syamsurizal has responded to the discourse on changing the name of West Java Province to Tatar Sunda, which has reportedly received a green light from the provincial legislature. Cucun urged the West Java Regional People’s Representative Council (DPRD) and the provincial government to focus on developing the region. “In my opinion, it is better to focus on how to build each province,” Cucun said at the parliament complex on Thursday (9/7). The National Awakening Party (PKB) politician acknowledged that he had heard the proposal from the West Java DPRD. However, he noted that the proposal has so far generated pros and cons within the community. Cucun hopes that the executive and legislative branches in West Java will concentrate on their work. Nevertheless, if the discourse is to be pursued, he requested that it be communicated properly to the public. On the other hand, he believes that the proposal is currently just a discourse. “Do not let matters like this, if there are certain objectives to change the province’s name, the publication must be clear,” he said. The discourse on changing the name of West Java Province to the Province of Sunda or Tatar Sunda continues to circulate. Most recently, Commission I of the West Java DPRD held another working meeting with the community group proposing the change. The meeting resulted in several key points regarding the name change proposal. Chairman of Commission I of the West Java DPRD, Rahmat Hidayat Djati, stated that the meeting produced several recommendations, one of which was a follow-up to the proposal submitted by the name change study community. However, West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi confirmed that the provincial government will not change the name. According to him, the idea of changing the name to Tatar Sunda is merely a fabrication. “We emphasise that there are those who are throwing out discourse and creating stories on social media about changing the name of West Java to Tatar Sunda. I say that the entire series is a fabrication by others. The West Java Provincial Government will remain focused on working, not on dealing with a name change. The name remains West Java,” Dedi said on his Instagram page.