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Deaf community's demands go unheard
All smiles: Students and teachers of sign language schools perform a parody on Saturday during an event to celebrate the rights of disabled people at the Education and Culture Ministry in Jakarta
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All smiles: Students and teachers of sign language schools perform a parody on Saturday during an event to celebrate the rights of disabled people at the Education and Culture Ministry in Jakarta. (JP/Jerry Adiguna) (JP/Jerry Adiguna)
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span class="inline inline-none">All smiles: Students and teachers of sign language schools perform a parody on Saturday during an event to celebrate the rights of disabled people at the Education and Culture Ministry in Jakarta. (JP/Jerry Adiguna)
The government should support the Indonesian deaf community's choice of language, the Movement for Indonesian Deaf People's Welfare (Gerkatin) said in Central Jakarta on Saturday.
Gerkatin simultaneously celebrated its 33rd anniversary and advocated for the recognition of the Indonesian Sign Language (BISINDO) instead of the Indonesian Sign Language System (SIBI) as the official language of the Indonesian deaf community Saturday at the Education and Culture Ministry.
'It is already 2014. The World Federation of the Deaf and other Indonesian disability organizations support our demand for BISINDO but the Indonesian government still insists on investing in SIBI more than in BISINDO even though most of us use BISINDO,' said the chairman of Gerkatin's central management board, Aprizar Zakaria.
Aprizar added he had hoped that with this event, the government would come to understand why BISINDO's recognition as the official language for the Indonesian deaf community was so important. Despite invitations issued by Gerkatin, no government officials attended.
'We are grateful that [national] TV stations such as Indosiar and TVRI use BISINDO, but this only happened after Gerkatin petitioned for it. Even after we made the petition, it took a long time for the government to finally act on it,' said the deputy chairman of Gerkatin's central management board, Juniati Effendi, adding that BISINDO was only used to interpret on even-numbered dates.
SIBI is a sign language system created by the Education and Culture Ministry that is currently used to teach deaf children in special needs schools and also to interpret on national television. It is a literal translation of the Indonesian language and uses the same grammatical structure.
Unlike SIBI, BISINDO does not follow the Indonesian language's grammatical structure and is more widely used by members of the Indonesian deaf community. BISINDO's grammatical structure is easier as different concepts are portrayed by a combination of facial expressions and gestures the signer makes. Moreover, BISINDO is not sequential, so signers are able to communicate what they want to say much faster than in SIBI.
Frieda Mangunsong, a psychology professor at the University of Indonesia, said that it was important for deaf children to develop the confidence to communicate with other people in society or else their isolation might prevent them from gaining the skills and knowledge they needed in life.
'SIBI is too complicated and too academic, and so it may be difficult for deaf people to express themselves without getting frustrated and marginalized for being unable to communicate their needs. BISINDO can inspire confidence because it is simpler and more expressive,' she said. (fss)
