Udasmoro, Wening

Enggano is one of the outermost regions in Indonesia, on the island of Sumatera. It is located in Bengkulu province. It is part of the North Enggano Regency area which consists of one sub district. The population ion this island is 4 million people and more than 50% of the population are immigrants. The majority of the immigrants come from Java. They came to Enggano island through a transmigration program carried out by the New Order government around the 1980s. Being a remote island, access to and from Enggano is very limited. From Bengkulu people can only go by limited sea routes due to frequent storms. Ships can only dock in Enggano once in a week, even sometimes once in two weeks because of the storm. By air, the plane can only go three times in a week and accommodate only 12 people at a time. These limitations make it an isolated island. Therefore, there are many aspects that are not developed in Enggano, for instance the Enggano language. The large number of Javanese immigrants, who use Javanese or Indonesia language, has made the Enggano residents, especially young people tolerant of not using Enggano language. They are worried that their friends will not understand their language. Various efforts have been made by the government to preserve the Enggano language, but these efforts are considered by the local community to not understand their needs. Local language politics carried out by the government is considered will damage the Enggano language. It is because the coding the government make cannot be understood by the local Enggano people. This research aims at exploring more comprehensively how the revitalization of the Enggano language is carried out by local communities and the government. What efforts have been made and what are the obstacles in the language preservation process. 
Keywords: Enggano, language, revitalization, island, Indonesia