Local name:	Bahasa Indonesia
Language family:	Austronesian > Malayo-Plynesian > Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian > Malayo-Sumbawan > Malayic > Malayan > Malay
Native speakers:	~ 23 millions (Ethnologue.com, 2000)
Script:	A modified version of the Latin alphabet
Official in:	Indonesia
Spoken mostly in:	Indonesia, The Netherlands, Philippines and Malaysia.

After having been a Dutch colony, Indonesia became independent after the Second World War, and the new archipelago nation boosting some 300 different languages, needed a unifying language. Instead of choosing the country’s biggest language, Javanese, the Malay language, which had been used as the lingua franca in the area for centuries was chosen. The language was named Bahasa Indonesia (‘Indonesian language’) and differs somewhat from Malay in terms of grammar and vocabulary, mostly due to Dutch and Javanese influence.
Indonesian is used throughout the country in media, in education and in formal situations, whereas local languages are normally used in daily life.

Standard Indonesian: “Angin Utara dan Matahari”
Speaker: Damar Age at recording: 32 (2009) Geographical reference: Bandung, ID (Google Map)


Angin Utara dan Matahari sedang bersengketa mengenai siapa yang paling kuat, ketika seorang musafir datang mengenakan mantel hangat.
Mereka sepakat siapa yang pertama berhasil membuat sang musafir melepas mantelnya dianggap lebih kuat dibanding yang lain.
Kemudian Angin Utara meniup sekuat mungkin, namun semakin dia meniup semakin erat sang musafir merekatkan mantel ke tubuhnya; dan akhirnya Angin Utara menyerah. Kemudian Matahari bersinar dengan hangatnya, dan seketika sang musafir melepas mantelnya.
Maka Angin Utara harus mengakui bahwa Matahari adalah yang lebih kuat diantara mereka.