Strictly Javanese at language congress

The Jakarta Post, Indra Harsaputra and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Surabaya, Wed, 11/30/2011

A four-day Javanese Language Congress being held in Surabaya, East Java, since last Sunday has turned into a formal Javanese forum as all of the participants, regardless of their places of origin, have been required to speak the high form of the language at the event.

Unlike in previous years, the five-yearly congress, which concludes Wednesday, has this year named Javanese as its official language. As such, everyone at the congress is required to speak formal Javanese, despite that some members of the younger Javanese generations find the dialect difficult to follow.

“As a host, East Java Governor Soekarwo wants the congress to be different from in previous years. That’s why he has requested that Javanese be used as the official language of the congress,” the committee’s secretary Hizbul Wathon said on Tuesday.

Some 600 participants have joined the congress, which is the fifth to be held so far. Among them are 11 foreigners: an Australian, seven Surinamese and three American students currently studying in Indonesian universities.

The Indonesian participants come from 12 provinces. Some were seen wearing Javanese attire while attending the congress. “This is the first time that I have entered a star-rated hotel in a Javanese costume and I am proud of doing so,” said elementary school teacher Jumiyo Siswapangarso, a participant from Yogyakarta.

Similar pride was also conveyed by Surinamese Social Affairs Minister Paul Sumoharjo, who is of Javanese descent.

“We are happy that [we] can speak Javanese. It’s because we are preserving [the culture] of the 100,000 Javanese people in Suriname,” Paul told the forum in plain Javanese during the opening ceremony on Sunday.

Also attending the opening ceremony were Education and Culture Deputy Minister Windu Nuryanti, East Java Governor Soekarwo and Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengku Buwono X.

Among the speakers were George Quinn, an adjunct professor and visiting fellow of the Australian National University’s School of Culture, History and Language, who wrote and presented his presentation in formal Javanese.

His paper was titled “Unggah-Ungguh Lan Bahasa Indonesia: Masalah Rong Werno Sing Ngruweti Pamulanging Basa Jawa Marang Siswa Manca” (Manners and Indonesian Language: Two problems that make it difficult to teach Javanese to foreign students).

“I am touched that I see a spirit to preserve Javanese here. I see this as a shared consciousness to block the impact of globalization that has caused many regional languages to become extinct,” said Quinn, commenting on the use of Javanese as the official language at the congress on Tuesday.

Quinn indeed was not a stranger among preservers of the Javanese language at the congress. He has never missed a single congress since it was first held in Semarang, Central Java, in 1991. He is also known for his perseverance in promoting Javanese in Australia.

“Australia’s younger generations prefer to learn English rather than any other foreign languages, including Javanese. At present only ANU offers a Javanese language program,” said Quinn, who insisted on using Javanese during the interview with The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He blamed the globalization of English for the situation in Australia, saying that Australian students felt that there was no use in learning Javanese because many Indonesians spoke English fluently.