Every birth of a language emerge controversy. This happens in any language. In older world languages such as English and Arabic, such languages may already very well established so the root of emergence and the birth of various terms are not disputed.
It must be admitted, however, that the establishment had become one of the target in language law. The term; standardization and regularity, for example, is a mirror how an establishment to be a strong legitimacy to determine the type of national or regional language.
In Indonesian language case, besides having a problem with foreign language such as Arabic, English, Sanskrit, and others, there is also a problem that is not less complicated with the regional language. We know that the pure Indonesian language does not exist. We only can say that most of the Indonesian terms derived from Melayu, and then Javanese, Sanskrit, Minangnese, Arabic, a little bit English, and a little bit Dutch. In language that is standardized, for the time being we do not have to argue anymore. Suppose that the Big Dictionary of Indonesian Language (KBBI) published by the Ministry of National Education is part of the establishment process.
This article will focus on issues of relationship between the standardized Indonesian language and regional language, which is either standard or not. For Indonesian in general, language mish-mash sometimes does not matter because the important thing is to deliver communication and the parties who heard or read it understand what is meant. But when entering the world of text or verbal world at large, this language mish-mash become a tricky issue. This is because not all the message can be understood by a diverse community.
Surprisingly then, when many people try to direct the movement into a good language, but the local bureaucrats instead intensified the stabilization of the regional language; which is not really have clear direction and goals, except for primordialism prestige. Without further good manners, the regents and its apparatus in government often makes the obligation rules to use regional language. For example, in Sunda, the local governments require their employees to speak Sundanese in certain days, similarly in some regional governments in Central Java and East Java. Once again, they implement the program without mastering the local language well.
Above all the reasons, such programs seem just like a spontaneous and tend to display the primordial character. There are nuance of pride that has been missing from the local nationality identity that seems to be raised in the globalization era. There is such a need to declare that we also love the teachings of our ancestors, our mother language. And perhaps there is also a kind of political attitude that by trying to roll out the regional language program, people will stunned by the attitude of the public officials who hope to get sympathy out of respects for the teachings of their ancestors.
Outside some reason it does not seem to have rationality that support. Why?
The government, though it is a regional government, is the national government of Indonesia. The national language is Bahasa Indonesia. In a government that only adheres to local government autonomy, what should be built is the attitude of Indonesian nationalism, not Sundanese, Javanese, Minahasanese nationalism or a certain ethnicity.*
Indonesia