Perks Of Being Indonesian

Hello, guys. Today I would like to tell you about perks for being Indonesian people. Oh yeah maybe this post is little different than others, because every words I write in this post is in English Language (If you have, maybe somehow, subscribed to my blog, or you are always waiting for my post haha, sometimes I put few English phrase in my post). Why it must be in English? Why not in my native language, Indonesian language maybe? Because I want to introduce to the world about some quirky things being Indonesian, and some perks you will achieve if you are Indonesian citizen.

Illustration of Indonesian Local Language vs English Language

Because of huge tribe diversity, Indonesia has 718 local languages in just one country

As well as we know, Indonesia is the largest country in ASEAN region, and in 4th place as the most populous country in the world (within 267,026,366 people according to census.gov). Indonesia has more than seventeen thousand islands scattered around its region, and it also has a huge diversity. How can I claim it to be a hugely diverse country? Because Indonesia has more than a thousand tribes, with exact number is 1.340 tribes according to the BPS census in 2010. 

Because of this large number of tribes, it makes Indonesia one of the unique countries. The most unique thing, in my opinion, is Indonesia has many languages. Why is it considered to be something special? Let's think about this.

Let's take the USA as an example. It is obvious that USA citizens are mostly speaking English, and considered to be as their main language. Yeah, maybe some people are multilingual like some guys maybe speak Spanish, or some random dude knows a little bit about the French language so he would say he speaks French as his second language, and maybe most USA citizens only speak English so English is their only and one language they have ever spoken. Only one language, that's it.

But for Indonesian citizens and for the one who mostly lives in this large archipelago country, I think having only one spoken language is a rare thing. OK maybe some random weird guys or a hyper introvert person who never meets other people, just speak one language, Indonesian language for example (I know it's kinda unrealistic, guys. I never meet such a person in my life LMAO). But, you know, every human being who proudly admits as an Indonesian citizen, speak at least two languages. How is it possible? Are Indonesian people basically genius people so they can easily learn a lot of languages and become multilingual?

Naturally, Indonesian people are multilingual

Actually, Indonesian people don't have any kind of superpower so they can become a linguist. We are all just the same as every human being in the world. The reason why we can speak and understand more than one language is because of tribal diversity just I said before. Most tribes have their own language, and sometimes it is completely different from other languages in another tribe. And, you know, sometimes several tribes are placed in the pretty close area. Because of that we occasionally find huge tribal diversity in a small area like on one island or a province.

For example, is me as one of Palembang citizen. Palembang is the capital city in South Sumatera Province and Palembang people have their own language called "Bahaso Plembang" or Palembang Language. This language is kinda similar to Melayu and Indonesian language with most end letters of its word replaced by O and some mixing of Javanese language. If I interact with other Palembangnese, I would speak the Palembang language so they simply can understand me. But if I, somehow, travel to another city, like Bandung as an example, I can confuse local resident there by just talk to them using Palembang language. It's like traveling across Europe and try to talk with local residents, but it's still in one country.

But what should I do if I need to speak with other people that are not Palembangnese people? That's why we have a unity language called Bahasa Indonesia, the language which everybody else in Indonesia will understand. It's like the English language if you need to talk with other people from another country. So, if the case is like what I have told you before, we need to use Bahasa Indonesia to understand each other. In conclusion, the Palembang language is my first language, Bahasa Indonesia is the second language that I speak, and then me writing this blog using English, actually using my third language. So then at least I have 3 languages that I will understand if people want to speak with me.

This perk is going to be more bizarre if you are living in a region that is pretty close to a capital city but has its own language/dialect. Let's put Palembang again as an example here. As I said before, Palembang people speak their own language called Palembang language. But, if we move on from our current example city, let's say we go to Sekayu, their people actually have their own language and it seems different from the Palembang language. Oh yeah, actually Sekayu is a small town and to be considered as the main city of Musi Banyuasin Regency, and also it is 127 km away from Palembang. It's not a distant place from Palembang, but they have a different spoken language within only 3 hours trip if you want to travel from Palembang to Sekayu. Not only do they speak the Sekayu language, but also they able to communicate using the Palembang language and Bahasa Indonesia.  Naturally, they have at least three spoken languages since they were born. They can make an addition to their spoken language, like, maybe they learn English so English becomes their fourth language, and then maybe they have a chance to learn Arabic so they put Arabic to be their fifth language. So, guys, if you feel genius, and want to brag to your friends about a multilingual ability that you have, please try to compare with Indonesian citizens first LMAO #JK.

But the question is, how do we learn that much language? I mean, is there any special method that is used so we are becoming multilingual since we were born? To be honest, nobody taught us. It just came naturally since we were born, and we were just listening to other people talk, just like any baby in the world. Maybe there are a bunch of researches investigating how a baby learns to speak and derive new words from not only just one language but also maybe more than one. Yeah, I'm not an expert in this field, so I don't know, guys. Don't ask me about it LMAO. To be honest, the only languages that we learned from formal school are just Bahasa Indonesia and English. I think several people had been taught a local language by their school. But in my case, I never meet such a subject when I was still in school. 

Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, Unitiy in Diversity

Indonesia is a huge country. Not only just a land size but also in terms of varieties of tribes, cultures, and languages. Although we have many diversities, we still maintain our unity to become one country called Indonesia. From Sabang to Merauke, every region, every city, every province, every inch you can say maybe, have their own uniqueness that we are really proud of and we have to keep maintaining it. That's why our country motto is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, and it is written on our national emblem, Garuda Pancasila. This reflects our diversity. And although there are many differences here and there, Indonesia has a role like a forum to accommodate those differences, no matter who you are, what race are you, or where you come from.

This is why Bahasa Indonesia has such a big role in this country. This illustrates Bhinneka Tunggal Ika in terms of the language that we speak. So, no matter where you are, you can still travel anywhere in Indonesia and interact with local people by using Bahasa Indonesia, despite how diverse local language speaker in Indonesia.

Oh yeah, actually I'm writing this post because the Blogsri team, the blogger community that I join, set a topic for our post about the local language. Some members post their writing using their own local language. I'll put links below if you desire to want to experience how diverse Indonesian languages are just in one country.

• Bahasa Indonesia → Ragam Bahasa, Indonesia Juaranya by Rahayu
• Palembang Language & Sekayu/Musi Language → Pantun Bahasa Daerah Palembang dan Sekitarnya by Reskia Ekasari
• Palembang Language → Nulis Baso Plembang by Dodo Nugraha
• Empat Lawang Language → Aku, Baso, dan Empat Lawang by Rena Fitriani
• Bahasa Indonesia → lika liku berbahasa by Halah

Conclusion

In conclusion, Indonesian people are naturally multilingual. You know, as I said before, at least we have two spoken languages and this number may be adding if you learn another new language.  So in a nutshell, being multilingual naturally is such a unique perk. It is like a special power you get when you are playing a video game haha. I think this kind of uniqueness is a rare thing and most countries only have one language albeit in English speaker country they have a bunch of different accents (Unless your parents are from a different country).

Another perk of being Indonesian is you can easily have multicultural relatives. I mean it's possible to have a friend with Javanese ethnic, Minangkabau ethnic maybe and other ethnics group with very ease. Because of that, it is very prohibited to become a racist here. Get ready to be hunted by more than two hundred million people from Indonesia LMAO.

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OK then, I think this is the end of this post. If you want to share your opinion, or experience about the diversity in Indonesia, let me know in the comment. See you in the next time!