PORTALJABAR, DISTRICT. BANDUNG - Mainstreaming mother tongue is important to preserve and ground it so that it continues to exist.

Mother language mainstreaming can be done in at least three effective environments, namely the family, school and community.

This was stated by the Acting Governor of West Java, Bey Machmudin, when opening the 2023 Mother Tongue Festival for Elementary and Middle School Levels in West Java and Banten Province at the Sutan Raja Hotel Soreang, Bandung Regency, Tuesday (14/11/2023).

Bey appreciated the holding of the Tunas Mother Tongue Festival because it is an important agenda in exploring and nurturing love for the mother tongue as a very valuable cultural heritage, as well as fostering a sense of pride in the diversity of languages that exist in the country.

Bey believes that this festival is not just a competition for children at elementary and middle school levels, but is an opportunity to hone language skills, creativity and imagination.

"I am sure that every participant has shown extraordinary sincerity and hard work in preparing themselves to appear today," said Bey.

"Let's make today's momentum a step that inspires the journey of education and language learning in West Java and Banten towards a better level," he added.

Moreover, the mother tongue is the first language that a person masters and understands when they first become acquainted with the language and learn to speak it from birth.

In general, this process develops through interaction with fellow family members or the community in their environment.

"This means that the language that a person understands and speaks for the first time is that person's mother tongue," he said.

More broadly, Bey added that Indonesia is very rich in regional languages, of course mother tongues are also very diverse.

"Language and Literature Diversity Laboratory, there are 718 mother tongues in Indonesia," he said

Therefore, Bey invites all parties to preserve mother tongues so that they do not become extinct. Especially if it is rarely used by society and is no longer cared about and displaced by more dominant languages, such as Indonesian or even foreign languages.

"Buy guavas at city hall, buy mangoes in Cisangkan, our mother tongue is our culture, let's protect and preserve it," Bey ordered through rhymes.

Head of the West Java Province Language Center, Herawati, revealed that the 2023 Mother Tongue Festival is part of the revitalization of regional languages.

"Efforts to preserve Sundanese language, culture and literature are our shared responsibility," said Herawati.

"Apart from the community as the owner of the language, the government must also take part in preserving this language," he added.

This year's activity was attended by 787 participants consisting of 189 male and 192 female elementary school students, then 203 male and 203 female junior high school students. Apart from that, 114 accompanying teachers were also present.

The participants were representatives from 27 districts/cities in West Java and two districts from Banten Province, namely Pandeglang and Lebak.

Meanwhile, there were 23 judges who were experts, practitioners and academics in the field of Sundanese language and literature who provided objective assessments.

A number of competitions that the participants took part in were the Ngarang Carpon competition (composing short stories), Nembang Pupuh, Ngadongeng Maca Sajak and Borangan (Ngabodor Sorangan/ stand up comedy in Sundanese).

"Regional languages are a form of Indonesian diversity. We present regional languages that are adaptive to current developments," said Herawati.

Proposed to UNESCO

Meanwhile, Head of the Language Development and Development Agency (Language Agency) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, E. Aminudin Aziz, appreciated Acting Governor Bey Machmudin for opening and supporting today's activities.

"Thank you also to the teachers, education service team, experts, practitioners and supervisors for the extraordinary support that made this festival spread," said Aminudin.

Aminudin also revealed that Indonesian was being proposed as an official language at the UNESCO general assembly.

"The legal committee which consists of dozens of countries, I was asked by them what the reason was, then I explained it thoroughly, and not a single country expressed an objection," said Aminudin.

"That was an achievement when Indonesian became the official language at the international institution UNESCO. Knock the gavel around the 20th to 22nd at the plenary session. Hopefully there will be no obstacles," concluded Aminudin.