Reasons to Love Bahasa Indonesia

Saatnya Bahasa Indonesia go international.

Hi, para pembaca setia certiaku! Apa kabar? Sehat-sehat kita ya! Kali ini saya tuliskan alasan mengapa kita harus mencintai bahasa Indonesia setulus hati. Penasaran? Baca terus dan jangan lupa berbagi informasi ini, ya!

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Indonesians should be proud of their Bahasa. Why? I presuppose we are all familiar with this famous utterance, "Bahasa menunjukkan Bangsa (language shows the nation)."

It is true. People will easily recognize you from your language. It's a simple way to know one's particularity. Due to its far-reaching role as a marker of uniqueness, there should be some essential elements that act as reminders or supporting data for this claim. It might be the total users of the language around the globe, its image and influence in global politics, its bargaining position, and perhaps its past glory. 

Speaking of its user, according to Kompas.com, 259 million speakers use Bahasa Indonesia. It is on the top ten of the world's lingua Franca, ranked in 7th position throughout the world. Besides that, since 2007, it has been proclaimed as the second indispensable language in Vietnam. 

In Thailand, more people study Bahasa Indonesia day by day. According to the data, Bahasa Indonesia has 900.000 users, proving that it has become a dominant language in the region. In Asia, the language ranks in the third position after the Japanese language and Mandarin, resulting in 26th place in the cyber world as printed in Wikipedia and Word press. 

Additionally, Bahasa Indonesia has become a Southeast Asian prime language. Hence, a large number of people from distinctive countries study it to gain advantages from Indonesia. Indonesia has transformed as one of the world's gigantic-open markets for investment, product selling, health and education services, fashion, culinary, property, and even job opportunities.

Countless expatriates, singers, business people, students, and other professionals are coming and coming to Indonesia for one specific goal, i.e., to make a profit from this prosperous land. Therefore, the first thing first to do is to study Bahasa Indonesia and the culture to guarantee their interests or businesses run well. 

In connection with its worldwide image and significance in an international scope, Indonesia, at this current time, is a member of G-20, a group of the ultimate influential country in the world. Either directly or indirectly, this strategic membership entrusts Indonesia with extra benefits internationally. 

Accordingly, as a promising country, Indonesia has also been successfully attracting plenty of scientists to research this archipelago country. One of the noticeable findings of the research claimed that Indonesia is "the Lost Atlantis." It refers to a book entitles Atlantis, the Lost Continent Finally Found written by Prof Arysio Santos, a prominent Brazilian scientist. 

Believe it or not, it might be true as Indonesia is having rich human and natural resources in the way that the professor describes it. In this regard, Indonesia should be able to impose on foreigners to study and use Bahasa Indonesia for the sake of means of communication regarding their purposes. The aim is to increase the bargaining power of the language and Indonesia in an enormous sense of belonging. 

Aside from the current locus and conditions, Indonesia---noted as Nusantara in the past--- had a glorious and victorious moment. It was in the periodization of Sriwijaya (7th century) and Majapahit (14th century) kingdom. In their own time, both Sriwijaya and Majapahit were the rulers of the largest part of Asia. 

As a result, the colonies used their official communication. Therefore--- having mentioned all the advantages--- using appropriate Bahasa Indonesia should appear to be a good habit for Indonesian. It becomes compulsory to show our pride in using our national language. 

How can we show it? Indonesian must use Bahasa Indonesia for public use. Some of the examples are the advertising, job vacancy, speech, daily language, and classroom language as there is enough agreement in Bahasa Indonesia for the English. No need to worry about it. 

Take a look at these sentences: Holiday nanti mau ke mana," "Aku gak confident-lah," or "Be careful ya." Those are common, familiar sayings to listen to in our society. For those mixed languages, we can say, "Mau pergi ke mana liburan nanti?" "Aku tidak percaya dirilah," and "Hati-hati ya." Those are sufficient words. Never feel embarrassed or say, having no confidence in using Bahasa. 

There is no guarantee which says that when you have no idea how to use the English, you are considered not competent. On the contrary, while you experience English, you are acknowledging smart. I'm not saying that learning any foreign languages; for example, English is not valuable. Indeed, it holds a very substantial percentage as tons of information and knowledge displayed in English. 

Moreover, English has placed as one of the leading languages in the world. Knowing and mastering exceptional English stands as the indicator that we obtain open-minded thinking and ready for globalization. 

However, as an Indonesian, being unable or incompetent in your national language is also humiliating, pathetic, and showing no respect, nationalism, and heroism. To succeed this breakthrough--- as a patriarchal country--- Indonesian leaders, media, entertainers, professionals, and other public figures, should commit to contributing satisfactory examples of the right and correct usage of Bahasa Indonesia by all means in no time. 

Otherwise, it will be a useless and aimless effort and struggle. Why this sound so urgent to do? It senses that Indonesia is facing a self-identified problem now. Numerous Indonesians tend to "blend" Bahasa Indonesia with other languages, including slang words. 

There is a tendency among Indonesians if they don't use any foreign languages, they take into account as a low-level class. Tragically, they assume that if they use none of them, they won't be part of the globalized world. 

For this reason, we ought to learn from China and Japan as models. They learn loads from the West without forgetting their true selfhood. They constantly use their languages properly while, at the same time, studying any foreign languages. Not only having strong confidence, but they also have enormous heroism and nationalism toward their languages. 

Chinese and Japanese are stupendous stereotypes of hard-working, discipline, heroic, and patriotic people who keep using and promoting their languages.

How about us, Indonesian? Can we? One thing for sure: There have always been adequate time and hope for the better one.