Rafif (left) and Rafiki (right) during the first Betawi WikiLatih (Wikipedia training) session in December 2024. Image by Risa Mufliharsi. Used with permission.

This series will highlight the personal journeys of language activists who are also Wikimedians, exploring how they are preserving, promoting, and revitalizing their languages through Wikimedia projects, using digital tools to support their broader goals. In this article, Ramzy Muliawan interviews Rafiki and Rafif, leaders of Komunitas Wikimedia Jakarta and active contributors to the Betawi (Batavian)-language Wikipedia, as they talk about how they organize activities and tackling the challenges they face while bringing together others who share their commitment to the preservation of the Betawi language. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Rising Voices (RV): Please tell us about yourself.

Rafiki: I am Rafiki, a native Betawi speaker, and a Mandarin teacher at an elementary and vocational school in Bekasi, West Java. I use Betawi daily with family, relatives, neighbors, and residents in my village in Bekasi. I am also actively involved in the Jakarta Wikimedians community.

Rafif: My name is Rafif Aufa Nanda. I am a native Betawi speaker, linguist, and language activist. I am engaged in language activism since 2016, advocating for languages around the Jakarta region such as Betawi, Tugu, and Petjoh. I am also active in Wikimedia projects such as Betawi Wikipedia and Betawi Wiktionary (in Incubator).

RV: What is the current status of your language on the internet and offline?

Rafiki: The Betawi language has begun to be abandoned by Betawi people as many young people, especially children, don’t know how to speak Betawi. Native speakers themselves consider the language to be rustic, rude, and improper for public use, and Betawi parents don't often speak Betawi with their children. Worse, the language is also sometimes treated as a joke for its heavy use in lenong (a traditional Betawi theatrical form) and several other joke formats, including clips of Betawi figures with their distinctive Betawi accents which is sometimes considered funny by some people.

Rafif: Betawi or Batavian — this is how I prefer to refer to the language in English — neither has official status nor is a dedicated subject studied in schools. Imagine how we have to learn another regional language such as Sundanese whilst we live in the region where Sundanese is not spoken. Betawi is often mistaken as colloquial Jakartan Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia Jakarta or Bahasa Indonesia sehari-hari) since the latter is highly influenced by Betawi. Sadly, Betawi is somehow disappearing over time. Betawi is often stereotyped as “rude,” unrefined, uneducated, and comical due to its frequent use as an informal, spoken language and its portrayal as “the language of comedy and fight” on television. This stereotype doesn’t stop merely with the language. It leads to a more negative stigma towards the Batavians and their Batavian identity — with marginalization and hatred towards Batavians in some worse cases. So, some would feel underconfident in recognizing themselves as Batavians, speaking Betawi, and passing it to the next generations. Language catalogue Ethnologue classifies Betawi as 6B (endangered). Online support for Betawi is still negligible. Google Translate launched support for Betawi not long ago, although it is still far from being perfect.

RV: What motivates you personally to engage in digital activism for your language?

Rafiki: Betawi is beginning to be abandoned by its speakers. I am worried that it will become extinct in the near future because there are fewer speakers  using it. Therefore, I am motivated to spread Betawi through digital devices so that it will continue to exist and can be learned by more.

Rafif: I am motivated by a simple question — should I, as a linguist, just let my native language go extinct despite seeing its tragic state? Language extinction could also lead to cultural, and, worse, identity extinction when people cannot see any obvious characteristic marking identity boundary. What many people and the government do is only boast about their slogan “lestarikan bahasa daerah” (preserve local languages). Even though people are encouraged to use their languages at home, it does not yield significant results. So far, most local Indonesian languages are still confined to informal use. Some major local languages are taught in schools, but the lessons are mainly about local traditions. Local languages are deemed not useful in broader contexts, such as scientific and informational purposes. Subsequently, most people prefer the more “prestigious” languages, such as Indonesian and English, over native tongues. We must start to think beyond “preserving,” and move towards also developing our native languages, so that they can face the challenges we have in our modern society. One of the best ways to develop our native languages is through digital media, which has become an inseparable part of our lives.

RV: Can you describe your online language activism in more detail, including how Wikimedia projects contribute to your efforts?

Rafif: We find Wikipedia as a widely known, practical, and effective platform. We can apply our native language for educational purposes such as encyclopedia using Wikipedia which has become a principal need in our society. Hereby, our native language can adapt to coming challenges. The Batavian Wikipedia project was initiated in 2010 by a Wikimedian I personally don’t know. However, the project was left in Wikimedia Incubator for 13 years with no significant development. In 2023, we took over the project and started developing it more intensively. Within several months, in April 2024, Batavian Wikipedia was successfully launched. So far, we are growing it together with the Jakarta Wikimedians community.

Rafiki: Wikimedia projects have really contributed to the effort to preserve Betawi. Betawi Wikipedia and the Betawi Wikikamus (still in Wikimedia Incubator) have played a part in saving the Betawi language from extinction. My contribution in saving Betawi from extinction is to use Betawi terminology and to fight against the notion that it cannot be used as a written language. Through the Wikimedia projects, we hope that Betawi speakers will want to write and disseminate the language online.

Rafif: The Wikimedia projects have received a lot of positive responses from the Indonesian netizens. Last year, an article titled “Lobang item gedé betul” (“supermassive black hole”) went viral on X, which catapulted the project's visibility to a new audience. At first, they found this article “hilarious,” as most of them perceived the language used as comical and unusual for such a purpose. However, most responses are positive, and a breakthrough in using the language for encyclopedic purposes has been seen — which has never been done before. We hope the Batavian language gains more favor and prestige, establishing itself stably in society. At the end of the day, our efforts aim not merely to maintain our cultural heritage but also to break negative stereotypes.