"The congress, which is held every five years, has produced 22 recommendations that should be followed up," the Head of the Language Development Agency at the Ministry of Education and Culture, Prof. Dadang Sunendar, said here on Wednesday.
The first recommendation is the internationalization of Indonesian language.
In this case, the government is encouraged to regulate the use of foreign languages as the language of instruction at schools and strengthen literary studies in order to improve the quality of education and literacy by utilizing various digital devices and maximizing information technology.
The Ministry of Education and Culture is expected to be able to determine the number of literature that has to be read by students at primary and secondary levels.
In addition, the government is expected to widely apply the Indonesian Language Proficiency Test in governmental and private institutions.
The government should also enforce linguistic legislation by encouraging the issuance of regulations that contain sanctions for violations.
The government, together with all components of society, should boost the pride of using Indonesian language in various areas of life besides mastering local and foreign languages.
The next recommendation is that the central government and local administrations should intensify the documentation of local languages and literatures digitally in the framework of development and protection.
The central government and local administrations should also develop linguistic and literary facilities for disabled persons to create an inclusive ecosystem.
The Indonesian Language Agency is obliged to monitor, coordinate, and evaluate the implementation of the 11th Indonesian Language Congress decision and report the results at the 12th Indonesian Language Congress in 2023.
"The effort to strengthen Indonesian language and literatures is a joint task. We all are in the same boat and want to give a respectable position to the language that we love, Bahasa Indonesia," Sunendar noted.
Bahasa Indonesia functions as a language of unity which serves as a means of communication and merges different cultures and people. In addition, as the national language, it is a national identity that should be a pride, he remarked.
There are three main matters that have become the basis for organizing the Indonesian Language Congress, namely development, guidance, and protection of the national language.
"The Indonesian Language Congress is a momentum for the enforcement of Indonesia`s national language. The state should be represented in other areas through the Indonesian language," he added.
Reporting by Indriani
Editing by Libertina, Yoseph Hariyadi
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
