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| Lecturer of Indonesian Language and Literature at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) Faizin, M.Pd. (Photo: Special) |
In early April, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri proposed that Malay be made the second official language of the Association of South East Asian (ASEAN). Responding to this issue, the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbudristek) Nadiem Makarim also supports Indonesian as a second language in ASEAN. He even campaigned on the Ministry of Education and Culture's social media by taking action to defend the language.
This made Indonesian Language and Literature Lecturer at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) Faizin, M.Pd. interested. Looking from a linguistic perspective, he said that every country has the right to propose and propose the function of their country's language to become an international language, Indonesia and Malaysia are no exception. Faizin also warned the public not to be on fire. However, it is necessary to be more introspective, about what efforts have been made by the community and the government in doing the Indonesian language.
“Indonesian as an international language improvement has actually been regulated in Law Number 24 of 2009 concerning the flag, language and state symbol, as well as the national anthem. To make it happen, it takes hard work, strategy, cooperation, and collaboration between ministries," he added.
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The man who was born in Sumenep also considered that Malaysia must have seriousness and a precise strategy when it comes to wanting something. Regarding this language issue, they have held an inter-language competition to win the prime minister's trophy. The participants are not only from Malaysia but also from all Malay speakers around the world.
Amazingly, the event was broadcast on national and even international television. Many of the alumni who studied Indonesian for Foreign Speakers (BIPA) took part and enlivened the event.
Even so, Faizin feels that Indonesia also has the potential to become ASEAN's second official language. There are several strategies that he offers in accelerating the process of internationalization of Indonesian. One of them is to make a new study that discusses related sociology, politics, and linguistics or also called sociopolitical linguistics. This study aims to comprehensively discuss the strategy of spreading the language aspect.
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"It's rare for anyone to talk about politics. What they want to achieve is an international language. Many parties certainly have strategic roles such as international, ministry of education, language halls and others," he continued.
In addition, there is a need for serious steps from the government in responding to this issue. According to him, from the start, Indonesia has excelled in everything. One of them is the history of Indonesian spelling which is quite strong. Starting from the Republic Spelling or the Soewandi Spelling, the Update Spelling, the Melindo Spelling, the New Spelling of the Language and Literature Institute (LBK), the Enhanced Spelling (EYD), to the Indonesian Spelling.
Faizin considered that the Indonesian government still had a lot of homework to do in this regard. Political will and linguistic aspects are two of them. Likewise, grammar must continue with evaluation. Language problems and vocabulary enrichment also need to be updated.
“That way, we claim to make Indonesian language internationalization easier when all the homework has been done well. So each stakeholder must be clear. Likewise with the increase in love of our language, "he said. (*/ will)
