[Unpad.ac.id, 28/10/2016] Government measure in relation to the promotion of Indonesian in the era of the AEC is not particularly active. Although cooperation through programs BIPA (Indonesian for Foreign Speakers) intensively conducted at international level, promotion of regional ASEAN itself is deemed not very active.
This was conveyed by Indonesian experts, Prof. Dr. Dendy Sugono, as a speaker in the National Seminar on Indonesian Language and Literature “Remembering JS Badudu Role in Indonesian Development” held by Study Program Indonesian Literature Universitas Padjadjaran at the Center Hall Japanese Culture Studies Faculty of Cultureal Studies Unpad, Thursday (27/10).
Besides Prof. Dendy Sugono, this seminar speakers were Prof. Dr. Bambang Kaswanti Purwo (Professor of the University of Atma Jaya), and Prof. Dr. Dadang Suganda, M. Hum., (Professor of FIB UNPAD). In addition to seminars, this event is also filled with parallel sessions of paper presentation by speakers from several universities in Indonesia. The event was officially opened by the Dean of the FIB UNPAD, Yuyu Yohana Risagarniwa, PhD.
Prof. Dendy said that not having opened the program at the ASEAN level BIPA is the reason the government has not been active in developing Indonesian. On the other hand, the Indonesian people are not proactive in learning the languages used in ASEAN member countries. In fact, language is one indicator of the state of readiness in the face of the MEA.
“If we want the business, like promotions there, willing to trade there, must know the language of the people there,” said Prof. Dendy.
Former Head of Language Center (now the Agency for Development and Language Development Kemdikbud) said that people will prefer to learn a foreign language than the language of the ASEAN region. In addition to English, in the past two decades, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language has been widely studied up at the school level.
As a language with the fifth most speakers in the world, Indonesian should have been “controlling” all countries in the ASEAN region. Prof. Dendy proposed that most strategic objectives as promotion of Indonesian perpetrators is the generation who are instrumental in the fields of diplomacy, trade, culture, tourism, labor, and education.
Furthermore, the government is also preparing two main strategies, namely the preparation of the younger generation to learn the languages of Southeast Asia, and to develop strategies to strengthen the learning BIPA in ASEAN.
In realation to BIPA, Prof. Dendy also has two development steps, namely the development in ASEAN countries that do not speak Malay, and strengthening BIPA itself in Indonesia. In Indonesia, BIPA program itself was opened at several universities and in institutes of language. “BIPA in Higher Education is not all open, we will continue to support,” he added. *
Reported by Arief Maulana / eh
