Where bahasa Indonesia is spoken

In Indonesian, the Indonesian language is called bahasa Indonesia. The word bahasa, meaning ‘language’, is written with a lowercase “b”. This indicates that bahasa is not part of the name of the language. The phrase bahasa Indonesia simply means ‘the language of Indonesia’, or ‘Indonesian’. It is hence not correct to call the language bahasa or bahasa Indonesian.

Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia, spoken by 95 to 97% of the population, with most individuals speaking it fluently, if not natively. It is extremely rare to encounter someone who is not fully proficient in Indonesian.

Historically, until 1928, the language was known as Malay. Despite the presence of diverse Malay dialects in both Indonesia and Malaysia, where communication barriers can arise between speakers of different dialects, the official languages of Malaysia and Indonesia are standardised forms of Malay. Conversing in standard Indonesian ensures mutual understanding with Malaysians, and vice versa. Additionally, Indonesian-Malay serves as a national language in Singapore and Brunei-Darussalam, and carries significant importance in East Timor.

As the national language of several nations, the language has various official names. In Malaysia, it is designated as either bahasa Malaysia (“Malaysian language”) or bahasa Melayu (“Malay language”). In Singapore and Brunei, it is called bahasa Melayu (“Malay language”) and in Indonesia, it is called bahasa Indonesia (“Indonesian language”).

Together, Indonesian and Malaysian rank among the most widely spoken languages globally, comparable to French, Russian, or Portuguese in terms of the number of speakers.

Overall, the Indonesian language stands as a powerful symbol of national identity and plays a vital role in fostering unity in a nation with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.