Indonesia and Malaysia are allied and neighboring countries located in the Southeast Asian Region. These two countries have a close relationship due to the proximity of historical cultural heritage. Indonesia and Malaysia have diplomatic relations which often experience ups and downs due to conflicts in terms of political, cultural and social aspects, territory, history, and even language. At present, the relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia is being hotly discussed again regarding the issue of the proposal for "Malay as the Second Language of ASEAN" which was conveyed by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, namely Ismail Sabri Yaakob at the Malaysian Upper House on March 23, 2022. The foundation used as the Prime Minister's claim Minister of Malaysia that the Malay language has many speakers, for example in Brunei Darussalam, Southern Thailand, Singapore, and including Indonesia.
Response of Actors (Especially Indonesia and Malaysia)
This proposal certainly received responses and reactions from various actors, especially between Indonesia and Malaysia. Although President Joko Widodo agreed to strengthen Malay as the second official language of ASEAN. A number of other Indonesian parties commented that Indonesian is much bigger and more appropriate than Malay. The Language Development and Development Agency, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemdikbudristek) or what is often called the Language Agency is the party that has the authority to respond to this language case. The Head of the Language Agency of the Republic of Indonesia did not explicitly reject Malaysia's proposal. In contrast to the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia who rejected the proposal. The Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia said that Indonesian was more appropriate to put forward by considering historical, legal and linguistic advantages. He also appealed to all people to work hand in hand with the Government in empowering and defending the Indonesian language.
The wishes of neighboring countries need to be further studied and discussed at the regional level. The use of Indonesian itself is increasingly being used by Malaysians rather than Malay. This can be seen from the hectic news on social media about young Malaysians who like and are getting used to using Indonesian. This causes concern for the Malaysian people that the Malay language will be displaced by the influence of Indonesian. In addition, English is also claimed to be used more often by Malaysians. Unlike the Malay Language History Observer who also responded, he said that the choice of Malay was very easy to understand. This confirms that the same roots are attached to the National Languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, and Singapore. Other countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, and several ethnic groups in Vietnam and Cambodia still maintain the Malay language.
Pros and cons of the proposal between Indonesia and Malaysia
Launching from the official website of the Language Development and Development Agency-Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, that the use of the Indonesian-Malay language needs to be considered to maintain the cultural history and influence of language in the world's current geopolitical arena. Malaysia's efforts to make Malay Language the Second Language of ASEAN are shown by a more aggressive attitude. In addition, Indonesia has taken a wise stance in arranging more arguments as a basis for strengthening linguistic diplomacy in making official decisions at a later date. If what is proposed by Malaysia is not BM as a regional language, but BM Malaysia (BMM) which is its national language, there are three notes that need to be underlined.
There are four perspectives that can be seen in the actualization of Indonesian on the international stage, including the following.
a. Historicity
In 1926 Riau Malay was the origin of the emergence of Indonesian, which was finally established in the Youth Pledge of October 28, 1928. Previously, Indonesian had become the language of communication between ethnic groups, nations, the language of trade transactions and the language of association (lingua franca). The function of the Indonesian language has developed extensively not only in the archipelago, but includes the Malayan peninsula, Southern Thailand, Brunei and the Southern Philippines.
b. Legality
Indonesian as the official language of the state is stated in Article 36 of the 1945 Constitution, Law No. 24 of 2009, Government Regulation No. 57 of 2014, and Presidential Regulation No. 63 of 2019 and Permendikbud No. 42 of 2018. The formal juridical basis mentioned above reinforces the legal rules for the development of the Indonesian language as an international language.
c. Statistics
The number of Indonesian language users in the world has reached more than 300 million speakers. The number of Indonesians who speak Indonesian alone has exceeded 250 million people out of Indonesia's population of more than 272 million. Indonesian is a dialectal variation in overseas regions such as Malaysia, which has a population of 33 million, Southern Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, the Southern Philippines, Suriname, and various Indonesian diaspora in the world, such as in America, Canada, Japan, Korea, the Middle East, and so on.
d. Vitality
Indonesian has grown its function as national identity, national pride, a means of unifying various ethnic groups, as well as a means of communication between regions and between regional cultures. Indonesian as the official state language has also functioned as the official state language, introductory education, national-level communication, development of national culture, commercial transactions and documentation, as well as a means of developing and utilizing science, technology, art, and the language of the mass media.
1. Using Malay as the national language without changing its name.
2. The young age of the Malay language is in stark contrast when compared to the age of the languages used as regional or international languages.
3. Ideally regional or international languages have been studied in depth across the ages touching all aspects.
Indonesian should be accepted as the Second Language of ASEAN if political interests and approaches to different views, as well as the other side of objectivity are put forward. The use of "ASEAN Language" with Indonesian as the language of origin, then enriched on an ongoing basis with the vocabulary of all ASEAN Members. This is one of the anticipation of resistance that can be done. After this collaboration, the ASEAN language will become a separate language that is increasingly different from Indonesian as its native language. For example, on 28 October 1928 between Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia had 100% similarity which then decreased significantly. This decrease was due to the similarity of the main entries which remained around only 10% as a result of additional vocabulary from absorption (foreign and regional languages) and creations. It is undeniable that this collaboration has consequences that can arise, including:
1. The need for a review if there are languages of ASEAN countries that are not a priority source of loanwords.
2. Even though Indonesian has 127,036 entries and meanings which are equivalent to French which has 100,000 words and 350,000 definitions, as well as advances in providing online KBBI, Online Thematic Thesaurus, Online Encyclopedia of Indonesian Literature, and so on. There is still a need for acceleration of various lines in order to be able to facilitate the needs of the public and the wider community.
Indonesian has a higher role than the local languages of the archipelago, including Riau Malay in its use from various domains. The existence of Indonesian as a language with high status, safety, and widespread use can be seen from sociological factors. Currently there are 428 BIPA learning organizing institutions spread across 47 countries in the world and continue to increase. On April 4, 2022 the Language Development and Development Agency, Ministry of Education and Culture through its official Instagram account (@badanlanguagekemendikbud) said that there were several reasons that became a reference for making Indonesian the second language in ASEAN, including:
1. The national language and state language is Indonesian. Malay is the regional language.
2. Indonesian has been developed into the language of science and technology, Malay has not.
3. The number of Indonesian vocabulary is greater than that of Malay.
4. Indonesian has been prepared to become an international language, in accordance with the mandate of Law no. 24 of 2009.
5. There are 269,000,000 Indonesian speakers far more than Malay speakers, both at home and abroad.
6. Indonesian has been studied in 47 countries.
7. There are 428 institutions implementing the Indonesian Language for Foreign Speakers (BIPA) program
8. There are 142,484 BIPA students spread across the Amerop, Southeast Asia and Aspasaf regions.
9. Indonesian is enriched by hundreds of regional languages spread throughout the country.
10. The mutual intelligibility level of Indonesian is higher than that of Malay.
The Urgency of ASEAN's Second Language
English has de facto become the lingua franca (intermediary language) of ASEAN after its formation in 1967. English is used as a "working language" not an "official language" which is stated in Article 34 of the ASEAN Charter. So there is no official First Language of ASEAN including English. This shows that there is no relevance of the Malaysian Prime Minister's proposal in his proposal for Malay as the "second language of ASEAN".
On the official ASEAN website there is an ASEAN Charter document which is translated into all the national languages of ASEAN member countries. These languages are the official languages of ASEAN. It is still very simple and there is no policy to protect language diversity in Southeast Asia in Article 34 regarding "Working Languages". Article 2 paragraph 1 of the ASEAN Charter says that ASEAN members must respect the differences in culture, language and religion adhered to by the people of ASEAN. The article received a response from a professor of language at Griffith University, Australia. He said that there was no concrete policy regarding how to realize respect for the diversity of languages in ASEAN, including the national language and local and regional languages.
Apart from creating space for debate regarding the "second language of ASEAN", this could actually threaten the sustainability of more than 1,000 languages in ASEAN member countries. However, apart from the debate about which language is worthy of being the 'second official language' of ASEAN, there are actually other language issues that are more pressing. As Kirkpatrick said, in ASEAN there is not only English or Indonesian or Malay. There are more than 1,000 indigenous languages, and more than 700 of them are in Indonesia. The designation of an 'official language' can have an impact on the promotion of a language, but at the expense of other languages in ASEAN. When ASEAN country officials do not systematically promote the use of native languages, local language users may lose media to express their identity, knowledge and culture.
ASEAN's motto is "One Vision, One Identity, One Community". The debate about which language should be made the 'second official language' of ASEAN should not make us forget that ASEAN, even our own country Indonesia, has a rich diversity of languages and cultures. It is this diversity that shapes and makes ASEAN what it is today. Ignoring the diversity of languages just for the sake of practicality and the ego of the top brass of a country will only weaken our identity. Strengthening this diversity identity, on the other hand, will help us stand out in a globalized world, rather than just being followers and consumers of products of globalization and foreign cultures.
