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Indonesia rejects idea of making Malay official ASEAN language
Indonesia's education minister suggests that the Indonesian language would be better suited as an official working language for ASEAN, as he shut down Malaysia's idea to promote Malay regionally.
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Ayra, a senior high school student in Jakarta, reads an English textbook in this undated file photo. The government has suggested considering Indonesian over Malay as the second official ASEAN language, after English. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)
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he government has rejected a proposal by Malaysia to promote the Malay language as an official language of ASEAN, instead suggesting that Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) would be the more appropriate option.
Suggestions to expand Southeast Asia’s official languages beyond English have been floated frequently in the past, as ASEAN member states work toward a “common identity” to bolster its overall community-building project. But the search for a suitable lingua franca would have to account for the region’s rich history as a melting pot of cultures.
Most recently, during his official visit to Jakarta last week, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob suggested promoting Malay as a potential ASEAN language.
But Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister Nadiem Makarim turned down the proposal and instead contended that Indonesian would be the more appropriate language to promote regionally.
“With all the advantages of the Indonesian language, in terms of history and linguistics, and how it has been internationally recognized, I believe that it is more fitting for the Indonesian language to be at the forefront [of options] as a medium of communication for official ASEAN meetings," he said in a statement issued this week.
He added that Indonesian was widely taught in many university campuses, including in Europe, the United States, Australia and several Asian countries. However, because it was a “wish from an ally”, Nadiem said the Malaysian proposal could still be deliberated in further detail at the regional level.
Last month, Ismail Sabri said he would confer with the leaders of ASEAN to propose the use of Malay as the region’s second official language, in efforts to elevate the international standing of his country’s mother tongue.
