TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsIndonesian debuts as UNESCO language at Uzbekistan conference
Indonesia's schools minister marked a milestone for the country on Tuesday when he addressed the ongoing UNESCO general conference in Uzbekistan using his mother tongue, while urging protection for education as a fundamental right in conflict zones, including Gaza.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Abdul Mu'ti gestures as he talks to reporters on March 13, 2025, after launching a new system for transferring allowances directly to public school teachers at the ministry in Senayan, Central Jakarta. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
I
ndonesian made its debut as an official language of UNESCO during the 43rd General Conference in Uzbekistan on Nov. 4, when Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Abdul Mu'ti read out a national statement that also called for protection of the fundamental rights to education and information in conflict zones, especially in Gaza.
The minister addressed the conference in English and then in Indonesian, marking the first time the country’s national language has been used since it was recognized in November 2023 as the tenth official language of the United Nations’ education, scientific and cultural agency at the conference’s 42nd edition in Paris.
The designation as an official working language means that UNESCO conference documents will also be translated into Indonesian.
Along with the six UN languages English, Arabic, Mandarin, French, Spanish and Russian, the agency’s other official languages are Hindi, Italian and Portuguese.
Speaking at the session on Tuesday during the gathering, which opened on Oct. 30 and runs until Nov. 13 in the Silk Road city of Samarkand, the schools minister expressed gratitude to host Uzbekistan, UNESCO and member states for recognizing Indonesian as the agency’s tenth official language.
“Bahasa Indonesia [Indonesian language] has long served as a bridge of unity across our archipelago of more than 17,000 islands. Today, it also becomes a bridge of understanding among nations,” Mu’ti said.
Continuing the address in Indonesian, the minister called on UNESCO to serve as a force for moral guidance and a source of global knowledge in upholding humanitarian values and peace.
