It is a rare for teenagers to speak by using local language or mother tongue. They tend to use slang language or speak Bahasa Indonesia in daily life. This phenomenon is also happened in Taiwan. Meinong People Association (MPA) in Taiwan which is a society campaign movement of Meinong culture (Meinong is a city in Taiwan) to persuade the teenagers to love Hakka which is their local language.
Sabrina, one of MPA members who is also the office Manager of TransAsia Sister Association Taiwan (TASAT) conveyed that it is the responsibility of all people to make youths love their cultures. Sabrina who married a Taiwanese and has lived in Meinong for 20 years said, “Cultures including mother tongues must be maintained, such as Javanese. Youths nowadays are ashamed to speak local language. If no one speaks local language, it will disappear time by time”.
On Multidisciplinary Study of the Comparison between Taiwanese and Indonesian Cultures in BAA Hall on Saturday (18/8), Sabrina and other 20 people and young people succeed to maintain the indigenous of Hakka, those young people are Willy, Jason, Nick, and Ryan. They fell in love with Hakka culture after studying deeper about it. Willy (15y.o) said, “We learn Pa In Hakka. It is an instrument that is left-behind”. He has been learning to play Pa In Hakka for the last few years. It has beautiful melodies consisting of 8 tools.
Hakka was used to play for traditional events. But, nowadays there are some communities playing this instrument in different way.
Jason said, “We play this instrument for dramas musical. At first, we learned to play this because we were lazy to go to the course. Now, Pa In Hakka becomes our biggest pride”.
Nick and Ryan also invite the youths to love Hakka. They take music class to learn deeper about music and write lyrics in Hakka language. The main target is to invite teenagers in Meinong to love their local language. Ryan said, “Mostly, teenagers choose to speak Chinese. What a pity. Then we study music, write songs, and create an album in Hakka. The theme of our songs is children and teenagers”.
Their first album is X+Y, it tells about children who hate math and the second album is titled Adolescence which tells about love of youth and conflicts with parents. Nick said, “We are not playing around. Our songs are chosen by national musicians and we held a concert collaborated with them”. What they did is not in vein. Although they were mocked at first, but now they inspire their friends to love their local cultures. Nick said, “They were challenged and then join us to learn it”.
The Head of UMM Cultural Institure, Dr. Daroe Iswatiningsih MSI conveyed that the MPA’ visit is the follow up of the cooperation between UMM and some institutions in China. After introducing their cultures, those 20 people learned Batik and Gamelan. “Next, we plan to do culture exchange in wider scope”. (lus)
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