VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia commemorates the Language Day every October. The selection of October as the momentum of the Language Day cannot be separated from the historical event on 28^th of October 1928. At that time, Indonesian youths from various regions across the country held the second youth congress in Jakarta from 27^th to 28^th of October 1928. The meeting produced a concession known as the Youth Pledge. One of the points in the Youth Pledge is respecting the language of unity of Indonesia namely the Indonesian language. It should be noted that the Youth Pledge was initiated before the Independence of Indonesia. However, the youths from the entire region in Indonesia courageously decided to choose Indonesian language as the language of unity of Indonesia. Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, Muhadjir Effendy remarked at the pre-opening of the 11^th Indonesian Language Congress in Jakarta on Sunday, 28^th of October 2018 that language is a substantial element that establishes unity and integrity of a country. Indonesia is destined to own a language namely the Indonesian language. Whereas, Indonesian language was not supposed to be chosen as the national language considering the number of its speakers was not significant. But, the awareness of respecting the language and the blessing from the God has made the Indonesian founding fathers choose Indonesian language over Malay language. Without realizing the importance of unity, they would have not chosen Indonesian language as the native language used in daily conversation and government affairs. Indonesian language is an important factor that influences the journey of Indonesian nation. Talking about Indonesian language resembles to talking about the Indonesian national identity that must be respected and prioritized just like the essence of the 1928 Youth Pledge. The Indonesian Founding Fathers have realized the importance of maintaining unity and preventing the selfishness of each region in Indonesia by adopting Indonesian language as the national language. It is hard to imagine if each region in Indonesia keeps maintaining their selfishness by imposing their local languages to be the national language of Indonesia. Indonesia would have never had a unitary language. That is the behavior that must be preserved by Indonesian society in this era. As remarked by Minister Muhadjir Effendy at the pre-opening of the 11^th Language Congress in Jakarta, Indonesia has 3 major assets that can foster the country to be a great and advanced nation if they can be maintained. The three assets comprise unity, peace, and brotherhood. Indonesian language as the language of unity is one of the ways to make Indonesia a glorious and advanced nation.