Ask Kemendikbudristek To Move, Traditional Leaders In North Maluku Are Worried About The Extinction Local Language

Illustration of students studying regional languages. (Unsplash)

MALUKU - A number of traditional leaders in North Maluku (Malut) expect the local government (Pemda) to intensively care for and preserve local languages. According to them, these efforts can go through the process of learning regional languages as daily communication for local residents.

"Currently, many young people no longer use local languages in communicating, we are worried that the language inherited from their ancestors will become extinct," said Sultan Jailolo, Ahmad Sjah in Ternate, Thursday, November 30, as quoted by Antara.

He said the concern was very reasonable, because in West Halmahera Regency there is Gamkonora language no longer used by local residents and its speakers are currently starting to decrease.

Selain itu, kata Ahmad, bahasa Gamkonora sebagai identitas masyarakat di Kabupaten Halmahera Barat akan hilang, seiring dengan perkembangan zaman yang begitu membuat.

Therefore, he hopes that the local Regency Government together with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) through the North Maluku Provincial Language Office will continue to revitalize the local language which is currently threatened with extinction.

Because, at this time, people in West Halmahera Regency in addition to using the Maluku Malay language, some residents use Ternate's local language more than Gamkonora is the language of the lelulur.

Meanwhile, the North Maluku Provincial Language Office has monitored and revitalized five regional languages in North Maluku.

Head of the North Maluku Language Office, Arie A. Isa, said that the team they formed had monitored and evaluated the learning and revitalization of regional languages from August to September 2023 and aimed at knowing the regional language learning process which had been used as daily communication for local residents.

His party also went to school to see the revitalization of regional languages to local students, so that school support in developing the daily regional language can be transmitted to students.

For this reason, in revitalizing regional languages, of course, they will receive support from all elements in schools, so that the regional language that is the mother tongue will always be maintained by the speakers.

Previously, since 2022, his party has revitalized five regional languages, namely Ternate regional language in Ternate City, Sahu language in West Halmahera, Tobelo language in North Halmahera Regency, East Makian or Makian Dalam in South Halmahera Regency and Sula in Sula Islands Regency.

He said the Minister of Education and Technology had launched the 17th episode of the Merdeka Learning program, namely the Revitalization of Language and Regional Literature in 12 Provinces since February 22, 2022.

According to him, in this program, North Maluku Province is one of the regions targeted by the program.

Arie added that not all regional language revitalizations were carried out on 19 regional languages in North Maluku, there were only four regional languages that became the object of revitalization.