PORTALJABAR, BANDUNG CITY - The Bandung City Government (Pemkot) encourages all regional officials and institutions to use good and correct Indonesian in public spaces and institutional documents.

This was expressed by the Acting Regional Secretary (Sekda) of Bandung City, Hikmah Ginanjar, when receiving an audience at the West Java Provincial Language Hall at Bandung City Hall, Monday (29/4/2024).

"We encourage all regional officials to prioritize the official language, namely Indonesian, in public spaces and institutional documents. This is very important. We are big because of our own language," he said.

He said that the use of Indonesian and regional languages certainly needs to be maintained, but foreign languages also need to be mastered.

"Speaking languages is certainly very interesting. One thing we face is that many regional languages are becoming extinct. We have to maintain Indonesian and regional languages and master foreign languages," he said.

He also asked for guidance from the West Java Provincial Language Center in implementing Indonesian in government institutions.

"We are lucky that there is a language center in the city of Bandung. So if we need guidance and direction in implementing Indonesian in public spaces, we must take advantage of it. Thank you to the OPD for implementing Indonesian in public spaces and institutional documents," he said.

Head of the West Java Provincial Language Center, Herawati, hopes that the Bandung City Government can be an example in using Indonesian in public spaces and institutional documents.

Currently, the West Java Provincial Language Center has provided guidance to 45 institutions including 9 institutions within the Bandung City Government.

He explained that according to Law Number 24 of 2009 concerning the Use of Indonesian in public spaces, public bodies are obliged to use Indonesian. That doesn't mean you can't use foreign languages, but there are also rules. The rule is to use Indonesian first, then regional or foreign languages.

"We hope that the use of Indonesian in the city of Bandung will continue to increase. Our target is that the level of Indonesian language control is at least 80 percent. This is an indicator of increasing the use of Indonesian properly and correctly," he said.