Diplomacy To Raise Indonesian Language Must Be Improved Ahead Of Pope Francis' Visit

The PWKI Board of Trustees, AM Putut Prabantoro (right), handed over souvenirs to the President of the Vatican Communications Cabinet, Dott. Paolo Ruffini (third from left) at the Vatican Communications Cabinet Office, Vatican City, Wednesday 17 April. (doc. PWKI)

ROMA - Public diplomacy to introduce Indonesian as one of the official languages in the world has received significant momentum. Mainly ahead of Pope Francis' visit to Indonesia in September 2024.

Teacher of Communication Sciences at the Jaya Development University (UPJ) Algooth Putranto said the importance of public diplomacy as a soft power instrument. This, he said, is to influence the positive views of people or organizations abroad on a country.

According to him, UNESCO's recognition of Indonesian as the official language at the United Nations, as well as Pope Francis' planned visit, are two important moments that must be put to good use, especially by universities.

One of the difficulties of lecturers in Indonesia is the demands of English-language journals, even though the higher education regulator has even tried a wise solution, one of which is lobbying the use of Indonesian as the official language at Unesco, universities must also work hard to seek Indonesian as an international language," he said during a discussion with several Indonesian officials at the Vatican's Holy Throne and Vatican News officials in Rome, Italy, in a written statement, Thursday, April 18.

Algooth is known to be the only academic to be part of the delegation of the Indonesian Catholic Journalists Association (PWKI) who participated in this visit to the Vatican.

The delegations consisted of Mayong Suryo Laksono, Tri Agung Kristanto, AM Putut Prabantoro (Dewan Pembina), and L Gora Kunjana (Secretary). At the Vatican, PWKI met with several important officials from Indonesia, including Rm Agustinus Purnomo MSF, Rm Budi Kleden SVD, and Rm Laurentius Tarpin OSC.

The chairman of the PWKI Delegation, AM Putut Prabantoro, who is also a lecturer at Lemhannas RI, emphasized the importance of using Indonesian languages in international communication media. According to him, this is a strategic step in supporting world peace, as mandated by the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution. Language, apart from being a means of communication, is also an identity of a country.

In this context, Algooth underlined the importance of public diplomacy to introduce Indonesian, especially after UNESCO's recognition on November 20, 2023 in Paris, France. Indonesian has been recognized as the 10th official language at the UNESCO General Assembly, and is widely used in Southeast Asia as well as several communities in the Netherlands and Suriname.

According to Algooth, it is important for universities in Indonesia to be actively involved in public diplomacy that promotes Indonesian. This is important because there are still obstacles related to the use of English in Scopus' scientific works and scientific journals. He emphasized the need for persuasion towards related parties, including the Director General of Higher Education, to recognize Indonesian as an international language.

In addition, Algooth also highlighted the need to raise global awareness about the importance of Indonesian languages. Intensive public diplomacy is needed so that Indonesia is not only known at the local level but also at the international level.

Although the Indonesian language has been recognized as the official language at UNESCO, Algooth noted that this language is not adequately represented in Vatican News, the official media for the Holy Throne of the Vatican. Vatican News still prefers Malay to Indonesian. This is a concern for the Indonesian Ambassador to the Holy Throne of the Vatican, Trias Kuncahyono.

Vatican News serves as the Vatican Holy Throne's official news portal that presents information about activities and events related to the global Catholic Church as well as operations of the Vatican's Holy Throne.