VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian Embassy Canberra, Australia, invited more than 100 students, parents, teachers, and headmasters for a reception at the House of Indonesian Ambassador to Australia. The reception aimed to give appreciation for the students of Indonesian language and to encourage the parents, so that those students will continue studying Indonesian language at the next level of education.

The eight graders invited to the reception will decide to continue studying Indonesian language. In this event, some students gave speeches in Indonesian language. There were also explanations on Indonesian language by intern teachers at Australian schools. Some students also sang Indonesian songs, one of them was "Laskar Pelangi". Every participant also danced together to the song "Gemu Fa Mi re". The event ended with a banquet of typical Indonesian foods such as yellow rice, tempe orek, rendang, fried noodle, and meatballs.

The Education and Culture Attache at Indonesian Embassy Canberra Mukhamad Najib explained that the event was specifically designed to strengthen the promotion of Indonesian language to the students and parents. According to Najib, parents are a key factor in encouraging Australian students to study the Indonesian language.

Quoting okezone.com in Jakarta, Saturday (11/23/2024), Najib said that so far, parents of students have an influence in determining what foreign language lessons their children should take. Parents who do not understand Indonesia will encourage their sons and daughters to learn other foreign languages such as German and French. Therefore, promoting Indonesia to parents of students is important to strengthen Indonesian in Australia.

In addition, Najib said strengthening teachers and principals is also very important. According to him, principals have a role in determining whether or not there are Indonesian lessons in schools. The closure of Indonesian classes in several Australian schools is generally not because there are no students interested, but because the principals prefer European languages. Therefore, Najib believed that convincing principals about the importance of teaching Indonesian to students is a strategic thing to do.

In his remarks, Indonesian Ambassador Siswo Pramono conveyed the importance of learning Indonesian for Australian students. According to him, Indonesia is currently included in the group of the world's strong economic countries, namely the G20 group. Economic and investment opportunities in Indonesia are growing well and this provides opportunities for Australian companies to invest in Indonesia. If many Australian companies operate in Indonesia, then Australian students who master Indonesian will have a greater opportunity to work in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Principal of Trinity Christian School, Ian Hewitt expressed his gratitude to the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra for providing opportunities and support for learning Indonesian at his school. He stated that he always supports strengthening Indonesian lessons. According to Ian, the distance from Perth to Jakarta is closer than Perth to Canberra, so it is unreasonable for Australian students not to learn Indonesian as the closest neighboring country.

According to Ian, it is undeniable that Indonesia is a very rich country in terms of social, economic, and cultural. So it will be very beneficial for Australian students if they can master Indonesian. Next year, his party will take students to visit Indonesia to get to know Indonesia better up close.

One of the students who attended the speech, Frida, said that she had been studying Indonesian at school for five years. Although there are many challenges in learning Indonesian, Frida admitted that she enjoys learning Indonesian and will continue her Indonesian lessons at the next level. Frida also expressed her gratitude for the support of the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra for Indonesian language lessons by sending assistant teachers. According to her, assistant teachers provide an opportunity to practice more conversation in Indonesian.

The parents who attended admitted that they were very interested in the way the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra convinced students and parents to learn Indonesian. They felt very supportive of their students to learn Indonesian at the next level. In addition to Indonesian being an important language in the future, the richness of Indonesian culture is also very worthy of being learned by mastering Indonesian well.

The participants enjoyed Indonesian food in the backyard of Wisma Duta. They were happy with the garden party that contained a variety of Indonesian food that the students liked. While getting to know each other and chatting, parents and teachers also seemed to really enjoy the Indonesian food served at the garden party held by the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra.