Jakarta, November 20, 2025 — The Center for Fostering Government Translators and Interpreters (Pusbinter) of the Ministry of State Secretariat held the 2025 Pusbinter Learning Festival, themed Law, Language, Literacy, and Life, as part of its efforts to strengthen civil servant competency. The event took place from November 18 to 20, 2025, and featured distinguished speakers with expertise in law, linguistics, journalism, and mental health to advance the professionalism and capacity of government translators across Indonesia.

In her opening remarks, the Head of Pusbinter, Sri Wahyu Utami, emphasized that civil servants including translators, play a strategic role in public administration and public service delivery. She noted that the demands placed on civil servants continue to rise, requiring strong technical expertise, adaptability, and unwavering integrity to ensure accountability and responsiveness amid evolving challenges. She further underscored that translators, as part of the government communication ecosystem, must possess robust competencies to effectively support communication across linguistic and cultural boundaries.

Over three days, the 2025 Pusbinter Learning Festival presented a lineup of expert speakers. Prof. Jimly Asshiddiqie, S.H., M.H., highlighted the ethical responsibilities of translators, particularly in the context of legal and public communication. Dr. Santi Yuliani, M.Sc., Sp.KJ, Subsp. ENP (K) discussed the importance of mental health for translators in maintaining a healthy work–life balance. Rizki Washarti Siregar, International Journalist at CNA Digital, stressed the need for translators to utilize a stylebook and field-specific glossaries when working with journalistic texts. Meanwhile, Ribeka Ota, editor of Japanese literature, provided insights into strategies for translating literary works for Asian readerships.

Another key session was delivered by Ilham Tri Ade Wicaksana, who introduced the Online Journal System (OJS) of Pusbinter’s Translation Journal, encouraging government translators to contribute scientific articles and strengthen academic discourse within the field.

The webinar drew strong participation from translators across central and regional government institutions. Lively discussions and enthusiastic engagement reflected the relevance of the topics to the challenges translators encounter in their daily work. Post-session surveys indicated that participants expressed “Satisfied” to “Very Satisfied” ratings for the speakers, event facilitation, and overall value of the sessions in enhancing translator competencies.

A central takeaway highlighted by the speakers was the importance of consistently applying the translator code of ethics, maintaining mental well-being as part of professional practice, and recognizing the translator’s vital role not only as a language expert but also as a guardian of facts and meaning. Participants were also encouraged to engage more actively in translating literary works from ASEAN countries as a means of strengthening regional diplomacy through literacy and cultural exchange.

Pusbinter emphasized that participating in events such as this festival is one of the strategic steps to enhance translator competency. The Center also reaffirmed its commitment to delivering capacity-building programs that are relevant, adaptive, and supported by competent experts. Looking ahead, Pusbinter recognizes the need for strengthened budget support and enhanced internal capacity to ensure training programs can be implemented more effectively and reach even more government translators across Indonesia.

The 2025 Pusbinter Learning Festival concluded with the hope that participants will apply the knowledge and best practices gained throughout the program while continuing to develop their competencies in support of improved public service delivery through professional, accurate, and integrity-driven translation. (PUSBINTER) (HYP)