Language and

Language and
disintegration

From Kompas

Kompas published a report on Nov. 20 referring to the need to
be Sundanese as one criterion for the selection of public
officials. The news attributed as its source a proposal of the
Justice Mandate (ABDI) faction, which was responding to a West
Java regional conference on this matter. If this proposal
genuinely came from people's representatives, who should have a
broad horizon of thinking, I must express deep concern.

The Sundanese are one of the country's largest ethnic groups,
found in various institutions and regions across the nation. If
the proposal were to be approved and later became a regional
regulation, it would prompt other provinces to do the same. Or,
it may encourage West Java to issue other regulations in the same
spirit, such as the requirement to be born in Banten, as shown on
an ID card, in order to be able to join Banten's civil service.

Separatist thinking should be avoided and national orientation
promoted. The Youth Pledge to build a unitary state, nation and
language should not be broken. The implementation of regional
autonomy, which gives rise to the danger of disintegration,
should not be worsened by any coercion in the use of certain
local tongues. Let us remain unified under the Unitary Republic
of Indonesia.

SUNARYONO

Bekasi, West Java