The region of Papua is home to an astonishing 428 mother tongues, making it the most linguistically diverse region in Indonesia. However, behind this richness lies a critical threat: many of these languages are on the brink of extinction.
A Heritage at Risk
As of November 01, 2025, according to the Agency for Language Development “Balai Bahasa” Provinsi Papua, there are 428 languages that span the six Papua provinces, which reflect centuries of cultural, social, and historical diversity in Papua. Yet many languages have very few speakers left—some only one or two. For example, the language Air Matoa in Kaimana, West Papua, is now considered extinct, as its last speaker is gone.
The loss is not just linguistic: each language embodies unique local knowledge, world-views, myths, and identity. When a language disappears, the associated cultural heritage and community memory are lost too.
Schools as Guardians
In response to this crisis, local efforts are making space for hope. One standout initiative is the Indigenous School “Sekolah Adat Negeri Papua” in Jayapura, which has been recognized as a model for language-revival through education.
Languages such as Sentani are incorporated into the curriculum, giving children formal exposure to their mother tongue. Traditional teachers (native speakers) are engaged to teach language, music, weaving, and daily cultural practices.
Hope grows quietly, one word at a time. Digital initiatives are now helping local teachers record and archive oral stories. Young Papuans are building apps and YouTube channels to share lessons in their ancestral languages.
According to experts from the Agency for Language Development, safeguarding Papua’s linguistic heritage requires:
- Collaboration between governments (central & local), schools, adat (customary) communities, and organizations.
- Curriculum integration: making mother tongues a regular part of schooling, beyond just informal usage.
- Digital tools & innovation: using apps, multimedia, and social media to engage young people with their languages.
- Legal and regulatory support: local regulations (Perda) and supportive education policies are needed to make preservation sustained.
Why This Matters
For Papua: preserving these languages means preserving identity, culture, and diversity. It strengthens community resilience, supports inter-generational bonds, and counters cultural loss in a globalising world.
The fight for these languages is not only a fight to preserve communication—it is a fight for dignity, for the right of a people to define themselves in their own words. Every phrase whispered in a Papuan dialect is an act of resistance against oblivion. Papua’s linguistic landscape may be fragile, but it is alive. In Jayapura’s adat schools, in the forests of Nabire, in the fishing villages of Biak, the words still echo, and maybe that is enough to begin again.
West Papua Now 