Speak Indonesian

The Miss Indonesia contest and the Abang (Mister) and None (Miss) Jakarta contest held on Aug. 8 at the Jakarta Convention Center caught my attention.

Although there is no doubt that the ability to speak a foreign language is a plus point for a contestant, the competition was held in Indonesia for Indonesians. Shouldn't a good command of Bahasa Indonesia be the first priority? Wouldn't giving answers in English be rather inappropriate considering the majority of the audience speaks Bahasa Indonesia?

After all, this is not a Miss Universe pageant, where most of the audience would be expected to understand English as an international language. It is sad to see that more and more Indonesians choose to treat expatriates better than their own countrymen.

For Indonesia to exist in the international world we do have to acquire certain skills, including foreign languages. However, this does not mean that we should start speaking English (or other foreign languages) among our own people and stop using Bahasa Indonesia.

It is not called our mother tongue without reason. We should speak it with pride. If we are willing to spend years studying foreign languages, why shouldn't we spare at least the same amount of time to study our own language?

EVY LUCIANA Jakarta