Tanjung Selor, 16 May 2023 — Tuesday, 16 May 2023, the Regional Office for Language in East Kalimantan Province held a Hearing on the Implementation of Cultivating Institutions to Prioritize the State Language in North Kalimantan Year 2022-2024. It took place at the Crown Hotel, Tanjungselor. The hearing was attended by twelve institutions, consisting of government agencies of North Kalimantan Province and Bulungan Regency, educational institutions, and private institutions. Also, some representatives of other media and institutions are invited, namely Tribun Kaltara, AMSINDO, SMSI, Pena Kaltara.id, and the North Kalimantan University.
This hearing is a series of institutions cultivating programs in prioritizing the State Language in public spaces and institutional documents for 50 institutions in East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan. The program is carried out from 2022 to 2024. During 2022, the Regional Office for Language in East Kalimantan Province has conducted the stages, such as determining institutions, hearings, dissemination, assistance, and evaluation.
“Based on the evaluation in 2022, it shows that the use of language in public space of twelve institutions in North Kalimantan has prioritized the Indonesian language. The Secretariat of North Kalimantan Province gets the best score for prioritizing the state language in public space. Furthermore, SMA Negeri 2 Tanjungselor gets the highest score, even though has inappropriate spelling, in the institutional documents,” reported Ali Kusno, chairman of the committee.
The Head of the Regional Office for Language in East Kalimantan Province Halimi Hadibrata expressed his hope that each institution can improve the use of the Indonesian language in public spaces and institutional documents. In addition, each institution can encourage other institutions.
The first speaker, Head of the Centre for Cultivation of Language and Literature, Agency for Language Development dan Cultivation, Muh. Abdul Khak said, “Although the provisions related to the use of state language in public spaces do not contain sanctions, that is precisely why it is necessary to have a shared awareness to use the state language based on self-awareness and love for the country. Let’s build nationalism in the form of prioritizing the state language.”
Abdul Khak expressed his hope that the state language in public spaces in North Kalimantan can be prioritized. Do not let our public spaces be decorated with foreign languages, especially English. Foreign languages may be used, but Indonesian is still prioritized. For an example in writing ‘Dilarang Merokok’ underneath is given the English translation ‘No Smoking’ with a smaller size and written italicized. Those practices of using language in public spaces must be developed and disseminated.
Next up, the Head of Ombudsman RI of North Kalimantan Province Representative, Maria Ulfa delivered her support to Regional Office for Language in East Kalimantan Province program to improve and prioritize the state language, especially for government institutions. Maria Ulfa conveyed the relationship between language use and public services. The use of state language, directly or indirectly, affects the quality of public services. Public misinterpretation can create an unfavorable impression. “Besides written language, people often complain about services based on the use of unfriendly speech of government officials. In fact, if (services) are delivered with friendly and organized language, the public will have a good impression although they have not been served optimally,” Maria Ulfa said.
The staff of the Regional Office for Language in East Kalimantan Province, Abd. Rahman and Nur Bety led the next discussion. In the discussion, the results of the assessment of the use of language in public spaces and documents of each institution were presented. Furthermore, institutions representatives consulted on how to fix the use of the Indonesian language in documents, such as formal correspondence. Representatives of twelve institutions committed to sustaining to improve the use of the Indonesian language in public spaces and documents and try to disseminate it to other agencies. (ak)
Translated by Muhammad Erwin Darma