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Well, I can͛t speak the local language in which his words flowed most freely. He hoped to
make a cultural connection, and found that he had failed. I guessed that he wanted to share
a joke with me. But how could we laugh together and trade jokes when I couldn͛t even
understand him?

I was born in Toraja, and spent half of my life as a baby in there. But the problem is, i grew
up in Makassar. As I child, my parents only spoke Indonesian to me (although they know
many of local languages, such as bugis, mandar, toraja, makassar). In JHS, even Jejen, one of
my friends from Toraja, spoke to me only in Indonesian.

When I come to the case in Jakarta, I found the same. Many young people no lon ger knew
any local languages. Or, they knew just enough words to ask simple questions.

I tried asking my parents why they didn͛t teach my native language to me. ͞The local
language is more difficult than Indonesian. And remember, we lived outside of that
language community. How would you have practiced?͟, they told me.

Without the ability to speak these local languages, it is hard to build these social and cultural
ties. I͛ve found myself disconnected, without access to these rich cultures. I can neither
speak nor write the languages, and I can͛t understand Torajans literature in its original
language.

The loss of regional languages was accelerated by assimilationist policies, in which the new
order regime tried to homogenize Indonesian society, down to prom oting a diet of rice all
the way to the eastern ends of the country. The spirit of autonomy and diversity only began
to be appreciated after the reform era. Only now do we see a renewed emphasis on the
importance of local content, including local languages , in school curricula.

In some places where many have migrated, and in places where people of many ethnicities
gather and trade, and in Indonesia͛s cities, la rge and small, local languages no longer play a
key role in people͛s live. For many of us, Indonesian is already enough. Unlike a local
languages, I can travel anywhere, from one end of the country to another, and still use
Indonesian. Or at least this is what I have found. This also means that for my generation,
and even more so for younger generations, Indonesia is becoming the means of
transmission for new cultural froms that stretch accross the country.
Œerhaps losing our connection to our many diverse local cultures is the price that must be
paid for us to become a nation with one culture, I ndonesia. A treasure our generation, and
future generationism must sacrifice in order to gain something greate r.

When visiting Toraja, I was approached by a number of Toraja-speaking men. When they
greeted me, I instantly felt a loss.