REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Bahasa Indonesia or the national language of Indonesia has been designated as the 10th official language of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The decision was marked by the unanimous adoption of Resolution 42 C/28 at the Plenary Session of the 42nd General Conference of UNESCO held in Paris, France, on Monday (20/11/2023) local time.

With this provision, Indonesian can now be used as the language of the assembly. In addition, the documents of the UNESCO General Conference can be translated into Indonesian. The Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Indonesia to UNESCO Ambassador Mohamad Oemar opened the presentation of Indonesia's proposals in the 42nd General Conference of UNESCO.

'Bahasa Indonesia' was based on the high Malay dialect from the Riau region of the archipelago. Out of hundreds of regional languages, it was chosen by Indonesia's founding fathers and mothers as the national language following the outcome of the Youth Congress in 1928. It is noteworthy that most of the Indonesian to be at that time spoke Javanese which is their mother tongue.

The variations of the same Malay is also spoken in Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, parts of Singapore, and the southern part of Thailand and the Philippines. There is a lingering contention between Indonesia and Malaysia on which variation should be recognized as international language. Population wise, Bahasa Indonesia has far more speaker than the Malay of the Malaysian.

Ambassador Oemar said that the Indonesian language has been a unifying force of the nation since pre-independence times, especially through the said Youth Congress of 1928. “With its role as a diverse inter-ethnic link in Indonesia, the Indonesian language, with more than 275 million speakers, has also gone global, with the inclusion of Indonesian curricula in 52 countries of the world with at least 150,000 foreign speakers today,” he said, as quoted in a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemlu) RI on Tuesday (21/11/2023).

The 42nd General Session of UNESCO in Paris, which took place on Monday, November 20, in the morning, has established by acclamation the recognition of Bahasa Indonesia as the official language that can be used in the General Assembly of the institution.

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Oemar, who also serves as Indonesia's Ambassador to France, revealed that raising awareness of the Indonesian language is part of Indonesia's global efforts. The goal is to develop inter-nation connectivity, strengthen cooperation with UNESCO, and part of Indonesia's commitment to international cultural development.

At the end of his speech, Ambassador Oemar affirmed that the recognition of Indonesian as the official language of the UNESCO General Conference will have a positive impact on peace, harmony, and the achievement of sustainable development goals, not only at the national level, but also worldwide.

Previously, the official languages of the UNESCO General Conference were the six official languages of the United Nations, namely English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish, Russian, plus Hindi, Italian, and Portuguese. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, the proposal of Indonesian as the official language of the General Assembly of UNESCO starts from a discussion between the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to France and the Deputy Permanent Delegate (Wadetap) of the RI to UNESCO in January 2023.

They recognized the potential of Indonesian to become the official language of the General Assembly of UNESCO. The potential was then presented to the Head of the Language Development and Coaching Agency of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek).

On February 7, 2023, a meeting was held between Wadetap for UNESCO, the Indonesian Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss opportunities and strategies for proposing the official language of the UNESCO General Assembly. The next step was to draft a submission to UNESCO.

In March 2023, the Indonesian Representative in Paris submitted a proposal for the Indonesian language nomination to the UNESCO Secretariat to be included in the agenda of the UNESCO Executive Council meeting on May 10-24, 2023. Indonesia's proposal was approved for inclusion on the agenda of the 42nd General Assembly of UNESCO on November 7-22, 2023.

At the General Assembly of UNESCO, the Indonesian delegation, consisting of the Head of the Agency for Language Development and Training, Wadetap for UNESCO, and the Head of the Center for Language Strengthening and Empowerment, presented its proposal before the Legal Committee. The presentation took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 8 November 2023. Without any objection from the members of the commission, the Legal Committee also approved the Indonesian Government's submission.