Barong Tongkok, October 5, 2026 — Regional Laguage Center in East Kalimantan via Monitoring and Evaluation Team of Regional Language Revitalization (RBD) conducted an assessment of the revitalization efforts for regional languages of Kutai Malay and Benuaq in West Kutai Regency on September 29 and 30, 2026. This monitoring coincided with the regency-level of FTBI Festival for the Kutai Malay and Benuaq languages. Organized by Agency for Education and Culture of West Kutai Regency, the event was held at the Aji Tulur Jejangkat Auditorium. It serves as a vital effort to revitalize, protect, and preserve regional languages and literature, while providing a platform for the younger generation to showcase their creativity and love for their language.
The FTBI engaged participants from elementary and junior high schools, featuring competition categories tailored to the unique characteristics of each language. For Kutai Malay, elementary students competed in poetry and tingkilan, traditional music/song, while junior high students participated in speech and tarsul, traditional poetic storytelling. For the Benuaq language, elementary students competed in poetry and storytelling, whereas junior high students showcased their skills in speech and stand-up comedy. Notably, because the Benuaq language competition was held exclusively within West Kutai Regency, the first, second, and third winners in each category were directly recognized as provincial-level winners and will not advance to a further provincial competition. Conversely, winners in the Kutai Malay categories will progress to the next stage. The top three Kutai winners from both the elementary and junior high school levels in West Kutai will compete against their peers from Kutai Kartanegara and East Kutai Regencies at the FTBI provincial-level.
The FTBI events for the Kutai Malay and Benuaq languages in West Kutai Regency were opened by Seriwahyuni, Secretary of Agency for Education and Culture of West Kutai Regency. On the final day, the event was officially closed by Dr. Kamius Junaidi, S.E., M.Sc., M.T., Head of Agency for Education and Culture of West Kutai Regency. In his closing remarks, Dr. Kamius emphasized that the FTBI is not merely a competition, but also a space to cultivate and strengthen the use of regional languages within the educational environment. He noted that through poetry, tingkilan, speeches, tarsul, storytelling, and stand-up comedy, participants can express their creativity while gaining a deeper understanding of the richness of regional languages and literature. He expressed hope that the FTBI would strengthen the sustainable use of regional languages in both schools and communities. Furthermore, this activity serves as a momentum to cultivate the younger generation’s pride in their regional cultural identity, ensuring that the Benuaq and Kutai Malay languages and literature remain alive, actively used, and passed down to future generations. Through FTBI, it is hoped that the revitalization of regional languages will extend beyond mere competition, evolving into a collective movement to care for our languages, revive our literature, and strengthen the cultural identity of the people of East Kalimantan. (yh)
Translated by Muhammad Erwin Darma