Papuan Regional Language Is Almost Extinct, Kemendikbudristek Asks Local Governments To Encourage Preservation

Illustration of regional language (Kemendikbudpar)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) encourages local governments and communities to preserve the regional language in Papua that is almost extinct.

"We invite and make all parties aware that revitalization is a shared responsibility. This is not only the responsibility of the central government or the community, but the local government is also assigned by the regent or mayor or governor to also do it together," said Head of the Language Development and Development Agency (Language Agency) Kemendikbudristek E Aminudin Aziz as quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, March 19.

Aminudin said, based on the UNESCO report, every two weeks there is one regional language in the world that is experiencing extinction. He added that the cause is that the language is no longer in use.

Responding to various challenges in the preservation of regional languages, he said that he had discussed with local governments through educational services.

This shared responsibility was implemented through the implementation of the 2023 Regional Language Revitalization Coordination Meeting (Rakor RBD) which was held in Sorong Regency, Southwest Papua Province, by one of the technical units of the Language Agency, Papua Province Language Center.

The RBD program is carried out through 3 stages, namely the survey and coordination stages; stages of learning and training; and stages of performances/festions.

The mandate of language protection and literature has been stated in Law Number 24 of 2009. In addition, the division of authority between the central government and local governments regarding this is stated in Government Regulation Number 57 of 2014," said Widyabasa, a Young Expert, Miranti Sudarmaji Language Agency.

Miranti also added that the achievement of the 2022 RBD program in Papua Province was quite encouraging, where the implementation of the Mother Language Tunas Festival (FTBI) was attended by 530 participants consisting of teachers, school principals, supervisors, parents, and education offices.

Other resource persons from Commission X DPR RI Robert Joppy Cardinal said that the protection and preservation of regional languages aims to make young speakers active regional language speakers and to learn regional languages with joy through the media they like.

"It is important to involve various parties in the revitalization of regional languages, namely family, traditional elders, language and literary protection activists and educational institutions," said Happy.

In 2023, there will be an additional 2 regional languages in Papua that will be revitalized, namely Hatam in Manokwari and Moi in Sorong Regency after previously revitalizing 7 regional languages, namely Sentani Language, Kamoro Language, Imbution/Marind, Biak Language, Sobei Language, Biyekwok/Biyabo Language, and Tobati Language.

The resource person representing the indigenous Papuan community who is the original speakers of the Moi language, Luther Salamala, highlighted that currently the younger generation among the Moi Gangs use the Moi regional language in interactions. "This is because many parents in families are not actively using Moi language," he said.

Lebih lanjut, Luther mendorong peran yang dapat dilakukan oleh masyarakat adat atau suku Moi dalam mempertahankan bahasa daerahnya.