PR OPO

SAL FINAL TEST

“The History of Indonesian Language”

Fabiandra
 Sekolah Tunas Mekar Indonesia

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Indonesia is a big country with more than 18,000 islands. It has at least 726 regional

languages, making it the World’s second most diverse, after Papua New Guinea. To choose

one national and official language is a big problem for Indonesia because of the diversity of

the regional languages. Given the diversity of cultures and vernaculars of our country, it was

difficult to find what Indonesians had in common. That common identity would eventually be

found by developing standardizing language to unify the islands. This paper will discuss the

process of selecting Malay language became Indonesia’s national and official language. This

is very important because national and official language will show the unity of a nation,

especially during the colonization.

Indonesian language is the official and national language of Indonesia. It is a

standardized variety of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua

franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago. The development of Bahasa Indonesia

cannot be separated from the Malay language which has been used since the 7th century as

the language of communication or ‘lingua franca’, not only on islands throughout the

archipelago, but also throughout Southeast Asia. The Malay language used is called Bazaar

Malay (“market Malay”). Around the 16th century, Indonesia was very famous in Europe

because of its spices, especially pepper and nutmeg. Marco Polo, Vasco Da Gama, and
Bartolomeu Dias are world historical figures of the 14th-15th century who traversed

Indonesia on their voyages to the Far East.

In Indonesia, the Bazaar Malay language leaves its traces as dialects in eastern Indonesia,

such as Ambonese Malay, Papuan Malay, and Makassar Malay. In Jakarta, or Sunda Kelapa

as it was known at that time, the Malay language mixed with Chinese Malay dialects.

Therefore, there is an opinion that Bahasa Indonesia originates from the eastern part of

Indonesia. The tipping point of Bahasa Indonesia took place when it was recognized as

the official state language when the new Indonesian Constitution was created, Article 36

on 18  August 1945, which stated that the language of the country is Bahasa Indonesia.
th

We have become acquainted with Bahasa Indonesia and how Bahasa Indonesia was made

as the unifying language of the Indonesian people. By considering these three aspects, we

have a better understanding of the origin of Bahasa Indonesia.

1.2 Research Question

From the background, the writer can make some research questions below:

1. How to know the history of Indonesian language in Indonesia?

2. How to be more care to Indonesian language?

1.3 Purpose

1. To tell about the history of Indonesian language in Indonesia

2. To invite the readers to more love to Indonesian language

1.4 Benefit

Reader: To give information about the history of Indonesian language in Indonesia

Author: To add knowledge of author about the history of Indonesian language in Indonesia

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 The History of Indonesia

Indonesia, country located off the coast of mainland Southeast Asia in

the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is an archipelago that lies across the Equator and

spans a distance equivalent to one-eighth of Earth’s circumference. Its islands can be

grouped into the Greater Sunda Islands of Sumatra (Sumatera), Java (Jawa), the

southern extent of Borneo (Kalimantan), and Celebes (Sulawesi); the Lesser Sunda

Islands (Nusa Tenggara) of Bali and a chain of islands that runs eastward

through Timor; the Moluccas (Maluku) between Celebes and the island of New

Guinea; and the western extent of New Guinea (generally known as Papua). The

capital, Jakarta, is located near the northwestern coast of Java. In the early 21st

century Indonesia was the most populous country in Southeast Asia and the fourth

most populous in the world.

Indonesia was formerly known as the Dutch East Indies (or Netherlands East Indies).

Although Indonesia did not become the country’s official name until the time of

independence, the name was used as early as 1884 by a German geographer; it is

thought to derive from the Greek indos, meaning “India,” and nesos, meaning

“island.” After a period of occupation by the Japanese (1942–45) during World War

II, Indonesia declared its independence from the Netherlands in 1945. Its struggle for
 independence, however, continued until 1949, when the Dutch officially recognized

Indonesian sovereignty. It was not until the United Nations (UN) acknowledged the

western segment of New Guinea as part of Indonesia in 1969 that the country took on

its present form. The former Portuguese territory of East Timor (Timor-Leste) was

incorporated into Indonesia in 1976. Following a UN-organized referendum in 1999,

however, East Timor declared its independence and became fully sovereign in 2002.

2.2 The History of Indonesian Language

Indonesian is a 20th century name for Malay. Depending on how you define a language

and how you count its number of speakers, today Malay-Indonesian ranks around sixth or

seventh in size among the world’s languages. With dialect variations it is spoken by more

than 200 million people in the modern states of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and

Brunei. It is also an important vernacular in the southern provinces of Thailand, in East

Timor and among the Malay people of Australia’s Cocos Keeling Islands in the Indian

Ocean. It is understood in parts of the Sulu area of the southern Philippines and traces of

it are to be found among people of Malay descent in Sri Lanka, South Africa and other

places. Malay is just one of many scores, perhaps hundreds, of different languages in the

area now occupied by the Republic of Indonesia. In 1928 the Indonesian nationalist

movement chose it as the future nation’s national language. Its name was changed to

Bahasa Indonesia, literally: “the language (bahasa) of Indonesia”. In English we call the

language “Indonesian”: it is not correct to call it simply “Bahasa”.

2.3 The Usage of Indonesian Language

As a national language, Indonesian has proven to be constructive in unifying the

whole nation-state, first as the language of struggle (bahasa perjuangan) against

colonialism in the political sense since it was first declared in 1928, then as the

language of independence (bahasa kemerdekaan) and language of revolution since the

Declaration of Independence in 1945. During Suharto’s era, Indonesian became the

symbol of development (pembangunan) and modernity. There was a strong

government campaign about the importance of Indonesian as the national language.

During the era of Suharto’s New Order, even more emphasis was placed on the

importance of Indonesian as the ideological national language that needed to be

mastered by all Indonesians.

There was a perception back then that to be considered educated, advanced and

modern one needed to be Indonesian literate. This language literacy expectation is

understandable given that the Indonesian language is used in almost all public

contexts, including education, commerce, media and entertainment. Indonesian

language remains one of the key indicators of the so-called national identity that has

proved to be effective in unifying a nation of many islands, languages and ethnicities.

Most Indonesians are bilingual. They speak their mother tongue as well as Indonesian.

For Indonesians living in diaspora their Indonesian language and identity is a

powerful connecting factor. In Indonesia they might feel foreign to each other, but

outside Indonesia language connects them, and they share an identity.

This emphasis on the importance of the national language, however, comes with a

cost.  Today many local languages throughout the archipelago are endangered, and

that can mean that the richness of local identities are shifted. The phenomena

of language endangerment in multilingual Indonesia needs to be tackled at all levels

and spheres. Local schools and universities should be encouraged to and subsidised

for teaching local languages aimed at increasing interest in, and awareness of, the

importance of preserving local languages as a way to maintain multilingualism and

multiculturalism in plural Indonesia. Language maintenance—of national and local

languages—is therefore imperative, not a choice.

There are over 700 living languages spoken in Indonesia, which means that it has

about 10 percent of the world’s languages, making it the second most linguistically

diverse nation in the world after Papua New Guinea. There is a saying that language is

the mirror of culture, meaning that language is fundamental to the construction of

cultural identity. Language is one of the most tangible aspects of any given culture.

For this reason, Indonesia’s multilinguistic identity is to be celebrated rather than

being feared as a threat to nationalism. This sense of threat was implied in Indonesia’s

former vice president Jusuf Kalla’s assertion that: “Kita membutuhkan bahasa

persatuan yang lebih cepat untuk berkomunikasi sehingga tidak perlu ditangisi bila

bahasa-bahasa daerah semakin berkurang” (We need a unitary language that is faster

to communicate so that there is no need to cry when regional languages are

decreasing).

Language is dynamic and so too is identity; they are not static and fixed, remaining

the same for all times. Nor are they primordial things that must be preserved.

Moreover, identity can be complex and fluid, it is not just about one’s identification of

oneself, but it is also how one is identified in relation to otherness based upon

important elements such as language, beliefs and religion, class and ideology, where

one lives and studies, and occupation. In this writing I have recounted some stories of

my encounters with different languages and my reflections on those stories that

illustrate the interconnectedness between language and identity as dynamic entities.

 CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH SUBJECT

The researcher takes the subject here to be discussed. The subject is Bahasa

language.

3.2 RESEARCH PLACE

The place of researcher take is in library and school. The researcher asked some

teachers about Bahasa language. The researcher also uses school to find data in

internet.

3.3 RESEARCH TIME

The researcher uses the time at school time to make the research paper.

3.4 RESEARCH MATERIALS

The materials that researcher makes are:

1. Journals about Bahasa language

2. Articles about Bahasa language
3. Books about Bahasa language
4. Questionnaire to some teachers about the using of Bahasa in school

3.5 RESEARCH PROCEDURE

The procedures of research are:

1. Collecting the data

2. Finding sources in internet
3. Doing some questionnaires
4. Selecting the data
5. Putting the data into the paper
6. Making chapter one, two, three , and four