Three Universitas Indonesia (UI) students achieved achievements in the 2023 National Language Ambassador event held by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) through the Agency for Language Development and Cultivation. This achievement was announced at the 2023 National Language Ambassador Awarding Night which took place in Jakarta, last Friday (29/9).
Muhammad Rifai Hasbi, a student at the Faculty of Dentistry (FKG) UI, and Dina Azza Nuraqila, a student at the Faculty of Pharmacy (FF) UI, were named the 1st Best National Language Ambassador 2023, representing the DKI Jakarta Province Language Ambassador. Meanwhile, Salsabila Amanda Putri, a student at the Faculty of Administrative Sciences (FIA) UI who represented the Language Ambassador for West Sumatra Province won the title of 5th Best and Favorite Language Ambassador for Women 2023.
Rifai and Aqila excelled among 62 participants or 31 pairs of language ambassadors from 31 provinces who competed at the national level. Meanwhile, Amanda won the favorite because she was considered to have the best quality answers and way of speaking when answering questions from the honorary judges, one of whom was Erina Gudono (Putri Indonesia Yogyakarta Special Region 2022).
Even though they are mostly students from the health and sciences field, Rifai and Aqila’s interest in literature and language has been nurtured since childhood. Aqila likes reading books, writing poetry and short stories, and taking part in speech and debate competitions, while Rifai has been trained in the language well by his family. “Since childhood, I have been equipped with good language skills, considering that my mother is an Indonesian language teacher. Because of that, language and literature have become my first world,” said Rifai.
Since being selected as DKI Jakarta Language Ambassadors at the end of July 2023, the two of them have taken part in a series of selection stages at the national level. All of these stages are intended to assess the skills of the language ambassadors which include public speaking techniques, foreign language skills, presentation of linguistic and literary reports, personality and psychology, artistic and cultural performances, linguistic and literary content, as well as the ability to write linguistic and literary articles.
Rifai and Aqila managed to become the best in the competition thanks to the innovation of the Indonesian Language Proficiency Test (UKBI) for Disabled People. UKBI for the Disabled (UUD) is a UKBI modeling page that is deaf-friendly. This innovation was created to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities, especially deaf people, who want to take part in UKBI. This innovation also provides access to language program information for people with disabilities.
“This program is not only a testing tool, but also a medium for increasing language capacity for people with disabilities. Apart from that, this program also initiates language certification efforts for people with disabilities. Through UKBI for the Disabled, the DKI Jakarta Language Ambassador has changed the mode of the Listening Session to a Sign Language Listening Session,” said Rifai.
To provide an overview of the linguistic abilities of deaf people, the DKI Jakarta Language Ambassador selected special schools (SLB) with public and private status in the DKI Jakarta area to participate in the socialization and trial of the UUD. This activity was also broadcasted online to allow the general public to take part. Several SLBs that participated as places to implement UKBI for the Disabled include SLBN 01 Jakarta, SLBN 05 Jakarta, SLBN 11 Jakarta, SLB Pangudi Luhur West Jakarta, and SLB Bina Karya Insani East Jakarta.
Aqila believes that involving friends with disabilities in every government program is an urgency because they have the same rights and opportunities as Indonesian citizens. She said, “We hope that the UKBI modeling for the disabled can become initial data to support the disability-friendly UKBI implementation process. UKBI, which is increasingly in demand, needs to be experienced by everyone, including friends with disabilities.”
The selection of language ambassadors has been held by the Language Agency since 2006 to produce a young generation ready to advance language and literature in Indonesia. Language ambassadors are expected to be able to spearhead increasing community literacy through innovative programs. “Our responsibility as a National Language Ambassador cannot be separated from our efforts to echo Trigatra Bangun Bahasa, namely prioritizing Indonesian language, preserving regional languages, and mastering foreign languages. These three types of language must be used proportionally so as to create an Indonesian society that is exemplary in language,” said Aqila.
