Daffa Aqilah Sofiyan, an Industrial Engineering student at the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (FTUI) was named Best I National Language Ambassador for 2022 which was organized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemendikbudristek RI) through the Language Development and Development Agency (Badan Bahasa). Apart from Daffa, Anzalna Nuraini Alifah, an Accounting student at the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) was also named. The appointment of the Language Ambassador is an effort to increase the role of Indonesia’s younger generation in consolidating the functions of Indonesian, regional languages and foreign languages in order to strengthen national identity and competitiveness.
In the selection process there are several steps that must be passed, one of which is a critique assessment. Daffa and Anzalna performed the krida which they brought together with their friends during the selection of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Language Ambassador which became the flagship program. The Krida is named Kedai Kopi Multilingual which targets coffee shops as collaborators who support the use of regional languages during the transaction period.
Visitors who are willing to use the local language will be given a stainless steel straw as an appreciation prize. Krida also aims to instill the spirit of Trigatra Bangun Bahasa into the community.
“We brought back the krida that my friends and I brought to the DKI Jakarta Province Language Ambassador election. At Duta Bahasa Nasional, we are increasing the number of coffee shops we are invited to work with and we are collaborating with stakeholders and influential parties. We managed to open six Multilingual Coffee Shops in five administrative areas of DKI Jakarta and held an audience with the Deputy IV of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Cooperative, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Revolving Fund Management Institution (LDPB-KUMKM) as institutions close to coffee shops to ask for their views as a regulator,” said Daffa.
Multilingual Coffee Shop was created as a free space for expression and learning for the community to use the local language. So far, three regional languages are spoken, namely Javanese, Sundanese, and Malay-Betawi. This is based on the large number of DKI Jakarta residents who come from the three tribes.
“Using these three languages is our first step. It is possible that in the future there will be many other regional languages that we can use as the basic language for transactions at the Multilingual Coffee Shop,” said Daffa.
The Dean of FTUI proudly welcomed Daffa’s achievements, “As part of today’s young generation, Bahasa Indonesia is a part of the history of the Indonesian nation that needs to be preserved and proud of. Indonesian is a unifying language that unites differences among many. Through this program, it is able to help students in contributing to realizing the Trigatra Bangun Bahasa, not only at the national level; but opening our steps to introduce Indonesian globally in the future,” said Prof. Heri.
National Level Language Ambassadors are a routine agenda every year held by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. In this election, participants from various provinces presented their respective regional superior programs to achieve the best ranking. Each province sent as many as two representatives consisting of Best I Men and Best I Daughters Language Ambassadors for their respective provinces. Accumulatively, there were 62 contestants who took part in this election event. The 2022 National Language Ambassador Awarding Night was held last October.
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Bureau of Public Communications
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia