Received: 17 September 2020 | Revised: 24 November 2020
DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22505
RESEARCH ARTICLE
The national identity on the border: Indonesian
language awareness and attitudes through
multi‐ethnic community involvement
Martono1 | Jagad Aditya Dewantara2
Wibowo Heru Prasetiyo4
1
Department of Indonesia Language,
Universitas Tanjungpura, Pontianak,
Indonesia
2
Department of Civic Education, Universitas
Tanjungpura, Pontianak, Indonesia
3
Department of Anthropology, Universitas
Tanjungpura, Pontianak, Indonesia
4
Department of Civic Education, Universitas
Muhammadiyah Surakarta, Surakarta,
Indonesia
Correspondence
Martono, Department of Indonesia Language,
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education,
Universitas Tanjungpura, Jl. Prof. Dr. H.
Hadari Nawawi, Bansir Laut, SE Pontianak,
Pontianak, West Borneo 78124, Indonesia.
Email: martono@fkip.untan.ac.id
J Community Psychol. 2021;1–15.
| Accepted: 19 December 2020
| Efriani3 |
Abstract
State borders are the areas that are vulnerable to the
degradation of national identity. The purpose of this study
was to investigate the attitudes and the behavior of lan-
guage use among the multi‐ethnic Indonesian of pre-
dominantly Dayak, Malay, and Chinese who resided on the
Indonesia–Malaysia border. The present research applied a
qualitative ethnographic approach to document and to
describe how a group of multi‐ethnic communities parti-
cipated in building their awareness, attitudes and practices
of language as a national identity. The data were taken
from 20 informants. They were teachers, students, local
people, entrepreneurs, and state civil apparatus. The re-
search found out that the ethnic groups on the border
were highly aware of using Indonesian language as evi-
denced through a form of community involvement, vo-
lunteerism and social attitudes in civilizing Indonesian as
the dominant language at the border. Their awareness was
shown through their involvement, volunteerism, and social
attitudes in developing Indonesian language as the domi-
nant language in the border. It is argued that the involve-
ment of all ethnic groups on the border affects positively
on strengthening their attitudes and awareness in using
Indonesian language.
KEYWORDS
community involvement, Indonesian language, national identity,
volunteerism
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jcop © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC | 1
2 | MARTONO ET AL.

1 | INTRODUCTION

The ethnic diversity in Indonesia may have accent and language different from one ethnic group to another
(Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 2016). It also has an impact on the habits of the local people in using
Indonesian as the national identity. Language is not only a means of communication but also a form of attitudes and
behaviors of loving a country and nation (Léglise & Migge, 2019). It is very important to develop social groups to
show their national defense and nationalism behaviorally. Besides, a language review is not only about language
and communication, but also about how an individual understands language attitudes and socially interactive
practices in the broader scope (Ernanda, 2018). Language is also able to determine the nationalism attitude of
community groups. Therefore, everyone has the right to choose the language that they use as an official or more
dominant language. It is also very necessary for the communities on the border to involve in maintaining the
nationalism sustainability through their attitudes to Indonesian language (Schnee et al., 2016). The public's view of
nationalism, in general, depends on how much they love their country. Thus, if a group of people in a socio‐cultural
sphere leaves their language of unity, it is tantamount to ignoring their national identity. Furthermore, focusing on
the phenomena that were observable within the communities on the border of two countries, they must experi-
ence linguistic acculturation. It means that language may reflect and become a benchmark of nationalism. In
essence, a language attitude is significant and dominant identifiers of particular ethnic groups. The relevant fact
was observable through the phenomena on the Indonesia–Malaysia border. The community in Entikong subdistrict,
Indonesian, used Indonesian language as a dominant means of communication on the border. It indicates that that
language attitudes and behavior shown by the multi‐ethnic communities on the border can strengthen their
national identity in the context of language (Vedder & Virta, 2005).
However, in the current era of globalization many problems often arise, one of which is a problem related to
the shift in civic culture in a multi‐lingual and multi‐ethnic society (Sari et al., 2018). Such a phenomenon can be
seen on the border areas prone to interstate conflicts. The focus of the present study was Indonesia. So far, the use
of Indonesian is still applied as the main indicator to identify one's nationalism (Piattoeva, 2015; Saputra
et al., 2019). Viewed from the aspect of strengthening national identity, Indonesian is a determinant factor to
identify one's nationalism. Language distinguishes Indonesian people from others, in such examples of performing
as an official language, civic culture, and ideology. This aspect is a form of community involvement in maintaining
nationalism and is a characteristic that cannot be separated from the Indonesian people (Abbott, 2017). As stated
in the constitution, the Indonesian citizens of various ethnic groups are equally required to use the language of
unity, that is, Indonesian (Marsudi, 2008; Nababan, 1991). Even so, it is also important to note that they are given
the rights to preserve and develop their mother tongues of their culture (Iredale et al., 2001). For a sovereign
nation and state, language is a political force that can determine whether or not an individual has a sense of loyalty
to his people (Gao, 2009). Indonesians need to see that the change of Malay language into Indonesian is a political
event. It started from the political influence of the Dutch colonial power that established the reading book
publishing agency known as the “commissie voor de volkslecuur” in 1908, whose literacy was mostly written in
Malay and Dutch (Mahayana, 1970). Supported by the strategic interests of Dutch colonial politics, they wanted
Dutch and Malay to be the official languages of the archipelago at the time. The history of the Indonesian people
also recorded that on 28 October 1928, Muhammad Yamin officially proposed to replace Malay with Indonesian as
the Language of Unity. On the other hand, at the end of mid‐1928, the Indonesian government through the youth
pledge began to set Indonesian as the National Language. From the youth pledge, three important promises
regarding the national identity were born; (1) Acknowledging one motherland, Indonesia; (2) Acknowledging one
nation, the nation of Indonesia; (3) Upholding the language of unity, Indonesian (Foulcher, 2000). Therefore,
Indonesian can be categorized as an inherent national identifier of Indonesian people (Aziz, 2014).
The people in Entikong subdistrict are very sensitive to the political policies of the two countries because this
subdistrict is located in West Kalimantan strategically, on the border of Malaysia–Indonesia. Although these two
countries (Indonesia–Malaysia) are side by side, the history recorded a heated political action/conflict. This action
MARTONO ET AL. | 3

is known as “Crush Malaysia” (Budiawan, 2017; Harun et al., 2015). This conflict also extended the two countries to
mutually claiming local culture, especially of Malaysia that claims of Indonesian culture (Asri, 2018; Clark, 2013).
Such a claim causes the political relations between the two countries often to heat up (Fakih, 2017). However, such
conflicts are not significant problems that stand out in the border area. People on the border of Entikong are more
multi‐ethnic communities that have lost their identity as Indonesian citizens, especially in term of the belief as the
part of a sovereign government. On the other hand, Malaysia offers a more prosperous life compared to Indonesia
(Amster & Lindquist, 2005). Therefore, the Government of Indonesia takes a constitutional stand that obliges all
citizens of Indonesia to use Indonesian in various aspects of social life to show a symbol of national identity (Eric
Hobsbawm, 1996; Nababan, 1991; Rovira, 2008). Indonesian has become an identical language for Indonesians.
Therefore, language is the symbol that cannot be separated from the view of a citizen as a distinct feature. About
the field observation to the tribal people of Malay, Dayak, and Chinese, the researcher could identify that the
stronger the people in Entikong have their tribal affiliation, the least they use Indonesian as a national language in
their daily interactions. Therefore, this study focused on the involvement of the community and government
agencies in the use of Indonesian without having to ignore the local language of each ethnic group. It reflects that
the identity of the indigenous tribes must not be removed. It is an important part of an element of forming
Indonesian culture and national identity.
It is significant for the researcher to conduct a study on National Language Awareness, in Indonesia, because
people in Entikong uphold the language of unity, namely Indonesian. The subjects of the present research were of
three ethnic groups majoring in Entikong. The study of these subjects was designed to look at language awareness
and citizen involvement in anticipating the degradation of the citizens' identity. It is necessary to recognize that
there are many phenomena of Indonesian people on the border who switch their citizenship from Indonesia to
Malaysia. This phenomenon is even an important issue that must be addressed by all parties in Indonesia. Later
such a phenomenon can be a boomerang if more people on the border are found not proud of using the national
language as the dominant language of unity. Precisely it gives an impact on the sovereignty of a country. Therefore,
it is interesting to raise and to investigate this issue based on the real conditions on the border. Some problems
that researchers describe and answer in this study are:

(1) What is the form of loyalty and awareness of Entikong Society in using Indonesian in real practice?
(2) What is the involvement of multi‐ethnic communities on the border in maintaining their national identity in the
language context?

2 | METHOD

The stages of field data collection were chosen using pre‐research methods which were preceded by using field
observations. The observation showed that the majority of the communities on the border consisted of Dayaks,
Malays, and Chinese. The field observation indicated that there were people of major ethnic groups that used
Indonesian, and others used non‐Indonesian or local languages in their daily communication. Then, the researcher
identified the potential informants using an individual interview method and FGD. Of this stage, 20 informants
were classified eligible as the research objects. Then, they were analyzed using an ethnographic approach to
describe clearly and deeply through qualitative methods (Creswell, 2009). The observations were made first to the
20 informants. It was followed the next step, that is, interviewing. Of 20 informants, 17 informants were identified
using Indonesian properly and correctly, and 3 people were found not fluent in Indonesian. In addition to the
above‐mentioned informants, supporting informants were added, consisting of local community leaders, migrant
communities outside of three main ethnic groups (Dayak, Malay, and Chinese) and school teachers. The ob-
servation was made to the 20 selected informants to collect each individual's behavior using an ethnographic
approach. The ethnographic approach was applied to have clear and detailed nationalism behaviors of each
4 | MARTONO ET AL.

individual being observed and interviewed. All informants from Malay, Dayak, and Chinese ethnic groups, holding
Indonesian citizenship, participated in the research. The research applying an ethnographic approach must involve
the participants whose behaviors could be observed individually and the researchers capable to use an ethno-
graphic approach (Gibbons et al., 1986). To observe social situations and to build social interactions and good
relationships with informants easier, the researcher put himself as a participant. This strategy enabled the re-
searcher to understand the pattern of behavior they want to convey. Field assistants were involved when needed.
The researcher was open and even told that he had an interest in observing and researching them. This technique
made the researcher feel free and able to harmonize the good relations with the informants. The researcher also
carried out observations in a classroom. If possible, the researcher accompanied the informants when doing the
activities outside the home, such as in public places and other places.
When doing observations, the researcher must maintain an attitude so as not to stand out in the observations.
But occasionally during breaking, gathering with the community, and when eating, the researcher interacted in an
informal and friendly manner. While taking the field data, the informants who had been given coding data were
then interviewed to explore further information about the practice of language attitudes and the insights about
Indonesia. The interview questions were specified on how the behaviors and attitudes of the people in Entikong
were addressed towards Indonesian and Malaysian languages, how their involvement as Indonesian citizens and
how the choice of language attitudes on the border could influence their nationalistic behaviors in everyday life.
The informants were interviewed individually in their respective homes. The duration of each interview was not
more than 2 h. Each interview was recorded and transcribed. During the interview, the conversation was con-
ducted informally and naturally with Dayak, Malay, Chinese informants and occasionally involved the informant's
family. The researcher involved all groups of people with different social strata. This was a valuable experience that
the researcher could explore more factual settings. Through language attitudes, people on the border could
become social agents who could keep the national identity from all types of threats beyond the national borders
(Parekh, 1995).

2.1 | Research venue

The present study was conducted in Entikong subdistrict, West Kalimantan, which borders directly with Malaysia.
The data were collected from four locations. They were Entikong Village, Pala Pasang Village, Suruh Tembawang
Village, and Semanget Village.

3 | RESULTS

3.1 | Loyalty and awareness of Entikong society in using Indonesian as the language
of unity

The present research found that Entikong was a border area where ethnic groups, such as Dayak, Malay, and
Chinese domiciled. Most people living in Entikong are Dayak and Malay. The Dayaks were of about 400 sub‐ethnic
groups with different languages or dialects (Hariyanto et al., 2014). Most Malays living in Entikong spoke
Indonesian–Malay dialect, which was different from the Malaysian Malay (Phillips, 1973). The languages spoken in
Entikong were (1) sub‐ethnic Dayak languages including Bidayuh‐sontas, Sungkung, Badat, Gun, Suruh, and
Entebang; (2) Indonesian Malay dialect was spoken by most Malays living in Entikong; and (3) Chinese and
Indonesian were spoken by non‐Malay and Dayak speakers, such as Chinese origins who generally spoke languages
of Chinese among their internal ethnic groups, and Malay as well as Indonesian when communicating with their
external ethnic groups. The Dayaks often used Indonesian in their daily life. They claimed that Indonesian was the
MARTONO ET AL. | 5

language that they must maintain as the national identity of Indonesian citizens. So far, Indonesian people con-
sidered that the national identity was only in the form of nationalism and patriotism. The national identity actually
includes the citizens' views to the ideology of the nation, the culture of the citizens, and the attitudes toward the
National Language (Teeuw, 1967). Most Indonesians had their way of accentuating their national identity, one of
which was by holding a flag ceremony routinely every Monday to strengthen people's understanding of the
national ideology and history (Clark, 2013). Historically, Indonesian was first spoken by Jahja Datoek when deli-
vering a speech at the Volksraad session in 1927. After Muhammad Yamin inaugurated Indonesian as the Language
of Unity in 1993, the young writers, known as “Pujangga Baru” and led by Sutan Takdir rewrote the New Grammar
of Indonesian Language. In 1938, the first Indonesian Language Congress was held in Solo from June 25 to 28
(Mulyadi, 1978). On 18 August 1945, Indonesian Language was officiated as one of the national identities. It was
stated in Article 36 of 1945 Constitution. The fast acknowledgment of the Indonesian language by Indonesian
people was also inseparable from the function of this language which was stated constitutionally as the official
state language. At present, Indonesian is spoken as the national language throughout Indonesia.
The national identity is a strong foundation to show the identity of Indonesians. One of the specific char-
acteristics of Indonesian people is that they can express in Indonesian properly and correctly (Zein, 2018). The
students in Entikong are also taught Indonesian compulsorily as a medium of communication between teachers and
students in teaching and learning activities. All interactions either in or out of teaching and learning process are
delivered in Indonesian, except when the local and foreign languages are taught. To show their Indonesian national
identity, all schools along the international border must apply Indonesian as an instructional language to avoid the
local languages replacing Indonesian as a unity language. Malay people in Entikong prefer to communicate in
Indonesian with a Malay accent in their daily life. Malay people who live in Entikong also ask their children and
their society to maintain Indonesian as a unity language, and for them, maintaining Indonesian identity at the
border psychologically can increase self‐awareness about the importance of nationalism (Zein, 2018). During the
field study, we interacted with the community in Entikong, both in the schools and villages. Most of them com-
municated in Indonesian properly and correctly. One of the teachers in Entikong claimed that there were still many
students who use their local languages as media to communicate with the teachers. Fortunately, no single student
was found interacting in Malaysian Malay during their school activities; and even they did not understand
Malaysian Malay.

3.2 | Attitudes and practice of language among the community in Entikong

The languages spoken by people in Entikong were the languages of the ethnic groups living in Entikong. The Dayaks
more often interacted in Indonesian in addition to their sub‐ethnic language or dialect. The use of dominant
language reinforces the structured differences in social power and prestige among ethnic groups (Eastman &
Stein, 1993). Their interactions manifest the position of each individual in the hierarchy of socio‐ethnic identity.
Fransiska, a Bidayuh Dayak participating in this study, preferred speaking inIndonesian to speaking in her local
language as stated below.

“My parents are of different ethnic groups. My father is Chinese origin and my mother is a Bidayuh
Dayak. Both of them are Indonesian citizens. My father communicates more often in Chinese than in
Indonesian. Mother doesn't speak Chinese; she always interacts in Indonesian with Father. I always
speak Indonesian when I talk to my father because from the beginning my mother taught me
Indonesian. Even though I am more inclined to speak Bidayuh, I am still proud of communicating in
Indonesian to show that I am Indonesian.”
6 | MARTONO ET AL.

Parents, teachers, and peers of the children contribute to a strong foundation in making their success in the
future. Therefore; character building must be instilled early on by parents to make their mindset mature and strong
in internalizing an ethnic identity (Campbell, 2016; Davies & Whitehead, 2012). Parents in Indonesia have good
language attitudes towards Indonesian and local languages. Their attitudes are very influential in maintaining the
Indonesian‐language identity in their domicile. Besides, most people along the border of Entikong (Indonesia) and
Tebedu (Malaysia) have a familial relation. Many Indonesian Dayak work in Malaysia because people in Malaysia
have a better income. The Indonesian people who worked in Malaysia were generally tied to family relationships.
They were Bidayuh–Sontas Dayak, Sungkung Dayak, Dayak gun, Suruh Dayak, and Entebang Dayak originating
from Indonesia. Such a strong origin ethnic identity made them not easy to leave their national identity. Although
the Chinese origins held Indonesian citizenship, they rejected to belong to Dayak or Malay. Malay ethnic groups
from Indonesia claimed to differ from the Malaysian Malay tribe. Most of them thought that their tribal identity
came from the Malay originating from Protomalay (old Malay) communities spreading across the archipelago
(Tumonggor et al., 2013), but their dialect was different from the Malay spoken in Malaysia. In reference to the
identification, Indonesian and Malaysian Malay originated from old Malay, and Malay language was a family of
Austronesian languages which was the daughter of Malay‐western Polynesia (Noerwidi, 2014; Postman, 2011). For
the Malay ethnic group, Indonesian and Malay languages were important things and could not be separated from
their national identities which function as an identity to differ. From the economic and market points of view, the
borders in Entikong were dominated by Chinese origins. They had good relations with the other ethnic groups and
even they were treated differently when entering the two countries. The Chinese origins had a great business
and economic influence on the two countries, sharing the border in Entikong. The people born from Chinese origins
and Malay ethnic group whose parents were of Indonesian and Malaysian (whose parents with different
nationality), were the people with a privilege to enter the border without a passport. Even though they had
privileges on the border, they still maintained their national identity as shown in the following statement.

“I am a mixed‐blood. My father got married to a Chinese Malaysian. But, I choose to be an

Indonesian citizen. I can speak Malaysian Malay and Chinese, but I communicate more in Indonesian.
Linguistically, I have a different language identity, that is, Indonesian and Chinese. I am grateful to
be able to master Indonesian, Malaysian and Chinese. On the other hand, I am recognized by
2 ethnic identities, but I still keep and prove that I love Indonesia, by preferring to speak in
Indonesian to in Malaysian‐Malay and Chinese in my daily communication.”

In general, the people with mixed blood of Dayak‐Malay, Chinese‐Malay, and Dayak‐Chinese living in Entikong
were advantageous in identity. Their language attitude influenced the social movements of the people from one
ethnic group to another. They could adopt the concepts of bilingualism and bilinguality, as well (Tinajero &
Englander, 2011; Triyono, 2006), even they were characterized into being transnational (Vertovec, 2011) and
ethnonational (Deol, 2019). The fundamental concept of Bidayuh Dayak language attitude leads to language
transnationalism, so a local language is spoken by the citizens of two different countries, but still of one ethnic
group (Rensch et al., 2012). In a broader context, the Bidayuh ethnic group inclined to master the language
different from their mother tongue. The aim was to enable them to enter the global atmosphere without losing
their identity as a devout and nationalist citizen. Viewed from the language attitude, they loved their unity
language, namely Indonesian as expressed by a student in Enttikong below.

“I must study English and Malaysian Malay seriously without leaving my identity as an Indonesian
citizen who is dominantly using Indonesian. I intend to study at the best university in Malaysia.
However, it is also important for me to master Mandarin and my local language to keep my ethnic
identity and to maintain my Bidayuh Dayak language. It is very necessary to maintain the local
language.”
MARTONO ET AL. | 7

Table 1 shows that Indonesian is the language used by every ethnic group in social interactions. Even the
Dayak ethnic groups use Indonesian as the language in interactions between Dayak tribes. Indonesian as the
national language has become a unifying tool for various ethnic groups even though they are at the border areas. It
has proven the Indonesian language can strengthen the sense of nationalism, complete awareness of the im-
portance of maintaining a national identity as the Indonesian nation is responsible for every ethnic group living in
the border areas (Table 2).
Every society element has its own role in achieving awareness and involvement in maintaining national identity
through language attitudes. First, the family is the most important element and the first place in internalizing the
values of nationalism (Suter et al., 2011). The family has become a good place for children to know Indonesian as
the language of unity. Second, school is the second place and the best place to maintain and strengthen nationalism
(McDonough & Cormier, 2013). In border schools, Indonesian as a formal language has become a good practice in
realizing the students' language attitudes. Third, government and private agencies are essential elements for
customizing language attitudes at the public level. The obligation to use Indonesian in social interactions at official
events and all public spaces has made every citizen in Entikong is accustomed to speaking Indonesian. Fourth,
society or ethnicity is a community at a high and diverse level. The awareness and sincerity in maintaining national
identity through Indonesian in social interactions reflect the realization of every individual's nationalist attitude at
the border area.
The social interaction among Entikong community represent the strengthening of social capital. As shown in
Figure 1, the people in Entikong expressed their nationalism by communicating in Indonesian in any event and
activity. This positive attitude was shown even though they adhered to language bilingualism. They had a positive
vision and goals in promoting Indonesian in the border area so that their social mobility concerning Indonesian
could civilize every individual in the border community as expressed by an Indonesian citizen of Chinese origin
below.

“In my opinion, it is very important to understand all languages including English and Mandarin. In
this global era, I need to develop my potential through foreign languages. I want to go to a good
university and then get good work. I frequently communicate in Chinese with my family without

TABLE 1 The dominant language in social interactions by three ethnics in Entikong border

Most language
Ethnicity usage The style of language usage Inter‐ethnic language compromise

Dayak Indonesian Dayak has a subculture with different Indonesian is the language that is
ethnic languages understood by every Dayak tribe
and is used widely

Malay Indonesian and Indonesian is also a part of the Proto‐ Indonesian and Malay are used in
ethnic Malay Malay language family. Thus, both daily interactions
Malay and Indonesian are equally
understood by Malay ethnics

Chinese Indonesian, Malay, The Chinese language is generally only Indonesian is used in wider
ethnic and Chinese understood and used among ethnic interactions, while Chinese is
Chinese as a legacy of their ancestors used in interacting with fellow
and an obligation to speak it to their Chinese and in the family to
descendants. However, because preserve the Chinese language
Chinese ethnicity is generally the
dominant ethnicity in the economic
world, they use both Indonesian and
Malay in their interactions with ethnic
groups outside of their own ethnicity
8 | MARTONO ET AL.

TABLE 2 Ethnic involvement in maintaining Indonesian as a national identity

Role Engagement strategy Form of engagement

Family Habituation and internalization of habituation to speak Indonesian in the family

the attitude of nationalism

School Maintenance and reinforcement of Learning activities both inside and outside the
the values of nationalism classroom must be conveyed the Indonesian
language

Government & private Code of conduct of the organization The use of Indonesian in all social activities and all
agencies and bureaucracy public spaces

Ethnic society Volunteerism and awareness of Campaign and socialization of the use of
national identity Indonesian in all social aspects

FIGURE 1 Multi‐ethnic groups in Entikong

losing my identity as an Indonesian. Therefore, I interact in Indonesian in any opportunity, so that all
people and my friends can imitate my behavior and attitudes that still love Indonesia.”

The social environment is very influential in the choice of language and individual character (Dewantara
et al., 2020). However, it cannot be denied if teachers and families also influence the linguistic perspective that
they use (Luscombe & Kazdal, 2014). The present research found out that the students in Entikong got a doctrine
from their teachers. The doctrine stated that to be successful, the students must act like the Chinese people who
currently mastered the global economic and market mobility. For this reason, the students in the border must
master the dominant foreign languages, namely, English and Mandarin (Stille, 2015). The teachers also advised that
the students never ignore Indonesian although they mastered foreign languages. They showed their positive
language attitude by always communicating in Indonesian daily, even though they had a strong sense of Chinese.
The positive language attitude indicated that they were proud of Indonesian as evidence of keeping their national
MARTONO ET AL. | 9

identity, so as not to fade from the brunt of the current of globalization (Tondo, 2009). High awareness among the
Chinese community also had an impact on the other ethnic groups who were involved in campaigning Indonesian in
the border region. Although the socioeconomic climate at the border was very competitive, Indonesians kept
interacting in Indonesian with Malaysians in their social‐economic transaction although in the Malay‐speaking
districts. For Indonesians, it was a pride if they could show their national identity through their academic and
financial status. The individuals who had better competence in languages had a bigger chance to have jobs in both
countries. The Chinese origins, as well as the mixed‐blood Chinese origins, often spoke Indonesian to their ethnic
counterparts, and occasionally spoke Chinese to their Chinese peers. This tendency showed that the Chinese
origins in Entikong had a strong attitude to the language values in the society. According to one of the Chinese
informants, practising Chinese languages was a must for the true Chinese. Their parents held the traditions of their
ancestors firmly, one of which was fluent in Chinese. It was a must for them to show to others that they belonged
to Chinese ethnic groups. One of the informants said:

My parents keep strong Chinese traditions, one of which was communicating in Chinese at home.
Since my family and I are Indonesians, not Chinese, our family keep speaking in Chinese, not to get
away from the previous generation. But, as an Indonesian my family and I keep using Indonesian in
our daily life. It is my pride to show that I am a nationalist.

4 | DI SCUSSION

4.1 | Community's involvement in maintaining the national identity

The ethnic groups in Entikong had a different perspective in maintaining the language as a national identity. The
most obvious example is shown by the Malay ethnic group. They always spoke Indonesian even though in Malay
accent. It is different from the Dayak ethnic groups and Chinese origins. The Dayaks only used their local languages
or dialects to have in‐group communication. The Chinese origins used Mandarin for in‐group communication and it
was to show their prestige to others. This finding indicates that the ethnic minority community has a volunteer
spirit to maintain their ancestral culture and language (Adha et al., 2019). Although the Chinese origins had a
strong ethnic identity and held firmly to the language of their ancestors, they were still Indonesian citizens who had
high loyalty to the Indonesian language and country. Their nationalism was identified in using Indonesian in their
out‐ethnic group communication. The Chinese origins also demonstrated their interaction in Indonesian in the
market and socioeconomic activities. The Chinese origins did not communicate in Malay for trading transactions.
Even in Tebedu, the center of Malaysian society, most Indonesian Chinese origins dominated the market and the
economy there. Their language attitude signifies that they are Indonesian nationalists.
The global advancement forced the students in the border to master such foreign languages as Mandarin and
English (Dubravac & Skopljak, 2020). The strong movement of globalization at the border pushes the schools there
to play an active role in encouraging the students and the teachers to manifest bilingual or multilingual schools
(Etxeberria, 2003; Luchtenberg, 2002). The digital era changes the language style of teenagers and students
around the world (Vanek et al., 2018) and it is also exposed to the people in the border. Therefore, it is considered
important for the community and the teachers to play their role in maintaining the national values in the border
schools. The important role of ethnic groups is demonstrated through their nationalistic behaviors. One of the
important nationalism indicators is civic engagement which involves empathy, sympathy, cooperation, and joint
responsibility (Karliani et al., 2019). The multi‐ethnic communities on the border show positive sympathy and
responsibility towards their identity through the role and involvement in the community. The community began to
work together to carry out campaigns and outreach in the use of Indonesian in all government agencies, schools
10 | MARTONO ET AL.

and public places. Such behavior shows the form of community social mobility to the importance of the concept of
civic engagement in dealing with identity crises in border areas (Gardner, 2014). The civic engagement here is a
concept that refers to the community behaviors that is pro to Indonesian language attitudes. These attitudes and
behaviors can reduce the negative impact of adolescents who consider that national identity is not too important.
The apparent behaviors include the compulsory movement to speak in Indonesian in public places. This movement
is intended to cultivate Indonesian. Then, Indonesian is spoken by the people of different ethnic groups. This
behavior is a form of public awareness which includes attitude, communication and awareness of the norm, and the
last is the mushrooming of the community moving from Indonesian into a foreign language. The behaviors
exhibited by the community on the border function to maintain Indonesian and local languages to avoid the
language death or extinction. The death of languages usually begins from the language contact. This process takes a
long time and it is marked by the emergence of a far more prestigious foreign language (Nichols, 1992). Therefore,
the community involvement in all activities is needed to overcome various social problems that appear in the
community (Prasetiyo et al., 2019; Santinello et al., 2012; Stamm, 2009), and in this issue, it is the national identity.
The positive attitudes and behaviors towards Indonesian shown by the majority of Chinese, Malay, and Dayak
communities are the implementation of the basic values of civic engagement. An element of community involve-
ment in the civic community is based on caring behaviors towards the condition of the state and social environ-
ment. So, each individual is aware of the importance of actively participating, working together to build the
common and good values together (Lawry et al., 2006). Adler and Goggin (2005) categorize civic engagement into
volunteerism, interpersonal cooperation, community involvement in politics or policymaking, and better social
change. These four indicators have been shown by the people at the border of Entikong in maintaining the national
identity (Adler & Goggin, 2005). Firstly, the community voluntarily plays an active role in promoting the use of
Indonesian in every traditional activity and event. Second, the community and private and government agencies
collaborate to oblige people to speak Indonesian compulsorily at any work and activities. Thirdly, the community
participates in decision and policy making on strengthening the national identity. Fourthly, the people in Entikong
provide examples and habituation to speak Indonesian in any place and time. The activities carried out by the
ethnic groups on the border have provided evidence that active participation which includes volunteerism and
mutual assistance can overcome the national identity crises that the border communities encounter. At this level,
the community's involvement broadly includes two important levels of civic engagement, namely, the individual
level and the level of the social system (Pancer, 2015). It is called an individual level because community in-
volvement has become a determining factor that influences social interaction, individual character values, and
individual awareness to do positive things. At the level of the system, the community involvement is influenced by
kinship/family, ethnicity, social and religious strata.
The role of community involvement and students as volunteers at the border is a form of agents of change
(Adha et al., 2019). It is proven by several studies regarding the involvement of students as young actors in social
and environmental change (Thomas, 1990; Wyn & Woodman, 2006). The involvement of the community and young
agents in language maintenance within a multi‐ethnic and multicultural country at least leads to the prevention of
certain language death (Short, 2010). The linguistic genocide has an impact on the death of the local culture of
minorities. Some of these cases were recorded in history in 1979 since Singapore campaigned for the Chinese
language for language maintenance for the young and old generation (Chan, 1999; Newman, 1988; Teo, 2005),
Russianization of language that occurred in the 19th century to crush the rebels in the Soviet Union (Dostál &
Jelen, 2015; Kulyk, 2016), and the restrictions, the prohibition of Kurdish languages in the 1930s (Yücel, 2011). In
Indonesia, it is different from the previous researchers; the use of Indonesian is interpreted as a unity language and
does not introduce local languages or minority local cultures (Halim, 1971; Sari et al., 2019). However, local ethnic
identity is maintained, the goal is to cultivate Indonesian so that foreign languages (outside Indonesian and local
languages) do not become dominant languages or will become extinct (Tondo, 2009). This is due to the socially
dominant to transnationalism and language bilingualism. Therefore, the role of Indonesian and local languages must
be interpreted to the level of the Education curriculum. The attitude and involvement of students are shown by
MARTONO ET AL. | 11

their behavior in the use of language in daily life. Even though they master two or more languages, they are still
proud of Indonesian. Therefore, the role, the behavior and the involvement of all elements of citizens living in
Entikong are important to civilize and to campaign for their identity as Indonesian citizens by “I am proud to speak
Indonesian.” Based on the above description, the involvement of Indonesian citizens in Entikong is a form of
positive citizen participation which is demonstrated through the attitudes and behavior of nationalism in resolving
the degradation of national identity. The role and volunteerism of all layers of border communities as agents of
change are determinants of continuous citizen involvement (Martens & Hobbs, 2015). An important component of
community involvement is the solidarity and volunteerism of the local community (Duarte Alonso & Liu, 2013).
Through volunteerism, active participation and initiative of local communities in solving problems related to the
social environment can be resolved with each other's self‐awareness (Kapucu, 2011; Zhu, 2015). The participatory
efforts that the ethnic communities carried out intensively are conducted for such reasons as geographical aspects
that affect language bilingualism, individual behavior that leads to language transnationalism, and demographic
factors, namely, multicultural population distribution. The effort of involvement and active participation is aimed to
get the border community to contribute fully the maintenance of Indonesian language and local culture in
Indonesia, especially in the border region of Entikong (Indonesia–Malaysia) as a form of the national identity of the
Indonesian nation.

5 | C O N CL U S I O N

The role of community involvement in Entikong has the conceptual relevance with an effort and maintenance and
loyalty to language. It is implied in the form of ideas, roles, involvement and attitude of language which lies in the
cultural system and social interaction at the border. It is proven by the role of teachers in schools through the
teaching of Indonesian that can improve the habits of students to use Indonesian inside and outside the schools. It
is clear that that the reduction of using Indonesian in the concerned border communities can potentially weaken
the position of the citizens' national identity. For this reason, the community involvement is very important to
support and to promote the use of Indonesian in border areas (it can encourage multi‐ethnic local community
awareness to get used to using Indonesian when interacting with different ethnic groups). In the daily social
interactions, there are still many border‐bound ethnic communities who interact in local languages. There are even
many people who interact with their interlocutors of different ethnic groups communicate in a certain language.
Thus, there must be supports from the Indonesian government and all local communities to cultivate the use of
Indonesian in any aspect of social life. However, it was found out that the use of Indonesian as Indonesia's national
identity has a positive impact on maintaining national stability in the border areas between countries. The In-
donesian community at the Indonesia‐Malaysia border is categorized as a nationalist community. Therefore, na-
tionality will never fade due to globalization among the citizens in the border region. The language attitude of the
border community is well maintained because of the awareness and volunteerism that drives the border com-
munity to be directly involved in maintaining and realizing nationalism.

A C K N O W L E D GM E N T S
The authors would like to thank to every informant from the Dayak, Malay, and Chinese ethnic communities in
Entikong who are willing to be a resource for conducting this study. In addition, thanks to the principal and
teachers at SMA 1 Sekayam for their hospitality and assistance during the field data collection process.

C O NF L IC T O F IN T E R ES T S
The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.
12 | MARTONO ET AL.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Martono: Conceptualization, data curation, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, supervision, writing—
original draft, writing—review and editing. Jagad Aditya Dewantara: Conceptualization, data curation, formal
analysis, data collection, investigation, methodology, supervision, writing—original draft, writing—review and
editing. Efriani: Data curation, formal analysis, writing—review and editing, writing—original draft. Wibowo Heru
Prasetiyo: Conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing.

P E E R R E V I EW
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1002/jcop.22505

ORCID
Martono https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3881-5622
Jagad Aditya Dewantara https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3734-4283
Efriani https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1087-9429
Wibowo Heru Prasetiyo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9146-063X

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How to cite this article: Martono, Dewantara JA, Efriani, Prasetiyo WH. The national identity on the
border: Indonesian language awareness and attitudes through multi‐ethnic community involvement.
J Community Psychol. 2021;1–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22505