Introduction
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 13.600 islands (Brown 2003, p5). It stretches out over an area of, in terms of Australia, as far as from Perth to Brisbane, or in terms of America, from Los Angeles to Boston. This large area is divided by sea and rivers into thousands of islands. The larger islands are divided by high mountain ranges into hundreds of isolated districts. The differences between the languages and speech communities are so large that it can be called as different languages and dialects. Such diversity of languages makes Indonesia unique. As Brown (2003) says ‘until recently its waterways have been much more important than roads as transport routes. It was along the seaways and river routes that … languages moved.’ (p5). People learn different languages and dialects through constant travel across the seaways and rivers.
According to an Indonesia linguist, Alisjahbana (1976) due to its extensive nature, Indonesia is ‘fragmented into hundreds of geographical, cultural and, most important, linguistic units’ (p32). Furthermore he suggests that these differences in languages have resulted in the need of a ‘single common language that could be understood not only by natives of the archipelago but also by the constant waves of foreigners’ (p32). When the archipelago was ruled, politically and culturally, by foreign powers, that was the time when the language of that ruling power was used as a common language by some population. The term ‘common language’, for many Indonesians, can be categorized as a foreign language because it may not be the language used by the native people of the archipelago. It might be brought in and introduced by the foreigners. Some of the foreign languages used by the ruling powers during a particular time were ‘Sanskrit in the Hindu period’, ‘Arabic in the age of Islam’, ‘Dutch and English under colonialism’ and ‘Japanese under the Japanese occupation’ (p32)
The current Indonesian language, which is called Bahasa Indonesia, was once a foreign language to many of its population. Indonesian language was formerly called Malay (Alisjahbana 1976). It was during the Dutch colonial rule that Malay became a common language for some native people of Indonesia. On October 28, 1928, however, at the Second Congress of Indonesian Youth held in Jakarta, the word Malay was formally replaced by Indonesian to describe the language. (Alisjahbana 1976, p39) This was the turning point for Indonesian people. For the first time Bahasa Indonesia became the formal language or the common language for Indonesians. Later on, the status of Bahasa Indonesia as the national language was confirmed on the Indonesian basic fundamental law of 1945 (UUD 1945, Bab XV, Pasal 36, Ayat 2) when Indonesia gained its independence in 1945.
The process of socializing Bahasa Indonesia to the people in this archipelago took many years. And until today, despite of the significant achievement of the teaching of Bahasa Indonesia through education, some still considered it as a foreign or second language. According to the 1990 Census done by the Indonesian National Bureau of Statistics, from the total population of 158.262.640 people, 15, 07% (23.802.520) Indonesians communicate using Bahasa Indonesia as their first language, 67,80% (107.066.316) as their second language, and 17,13% (27.055.488) of the total population are illiterate, which neither read, write, nor speak Bahasa Indonesia (Alwi, cited from Maryanto, 2005, http://www.ialf.edu/kepbipa/papers/Maryanto.doc ). The statistics clearly gives an indication that the “common language” itself is still considered by some Indonesians as a foreign language. In other words, learning a second language (L2) is a difficult task for Indonesian. As we will see in this chapter, there had been constant changes in the foreign languages introduced throughout the history. It may be one of the influential factors affecting EFL learning in later years.
In this chapter, a historical overview of foreign language teaching will be made. We will be looking on how the languages were introduced, their development and what influence they have made on Indonesian people. The foreign languages that will be dealt with are divided into two major parts. The first is the foreign language(s) used before the independence, and the second is after the independence period. The foreign language in this study refers to the languages that were brought in and introduced by foreigners apart from Bahasa Indonesia.
2.2. Foreign language teaching in the early years before the independence.
Foreign languages were introduced to Indonesia mainly by foreign traders for economical purposes, as well as by religious missionaries who come to Indonesia along with the traders. According to Brown (2003), there were evidence from a number of countries that traded with Indonesia, such as China, which suggested that as early as 500 BCE (Before Current Era), some part of Java were treading with mainland Southeast Asia, south China and the east coast of the Indian peninsula. He suggested that there was a recorded links between Sriwijaya—one of the great kingdoms at that time—and China. (p13). This suggested that, at least there was a form of common language established between the traders and the Indonesians. At this stage foreign languages were used mainly for trading purposes. The language is learnt through real communication. The meaning, rather than forms, was the primary concern of the learners. If people were not involved in trading, they would not be interested in the language. This suggested that foreign language is learnt because of economical driven. People were reluctant to learn foreign language because they knew that it is the only way they can communicate with foreign traders.
There were two famous Chinese scholars named I-Tsing and Hwui-Ning who recorded the situation in Sriwijaya around the 660’s. I-Tsing, according to Alisjahbana (1976, 32-33) was a prominent scholar who said that ‘Sriwijaya was a great center of learning, where translations were made from the native language into Chinese’. From his descriptions it is also known that apart from the native language used as an instrument of communication, Sanskrit was also used in political and religious life. (p33) It is unclear whether Chinese was used at that time also. However, it is certain that Sanskrit was a ‘foreign’ language that was used at that time. The strong influence of Hindu and Buddhist had a significant contribution in the adoption of Sanskrit[1]. It became the language of instructions in ‘education’. According to I-Tsing (cited from Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1986, p60) the methodology and education system used in the ‘university’ during the Sriwijaya era was exactly the same as the one used in India. This suggested that there had been a link between Indonesia and India that resulted in the transfer of knowledge and skills. Moreover, he said that, students from China can study in Sriwijaya before continuing their study in India[2]. This implied that Sanskrit was also being used not only for trading but also education purposes. The educational purpose of learning a foreign language at this time was closely related to the religious reasons as well. The Chinese came to Indonesia to learn Buddhism because it was the prominent religion at that time. Even today, we can see traces of its glory from the temples such as the famous Borobudur Temple. Therefore, we can say that foreign language learning is not only for economic and educational purposes but also cultural exchange. Indonesians learn Sanskrit from India, the Chinese came and learned Buddhism as well as Indonesian culture.
Later on when the Hindu and Buddhist kingdom fell to the hands of Muslim traders from Arab and India in the thirteenth century, the use of Arabic was gradually introduced. The use of Arab became more popular through the development of Muslim education which focused more on the religious aspects. The introduction of Arabic alphabet was recorded as early as elementary students. (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1986, p65). Native Arab speakers as well as local teachers that had been trained by Arabs were being recruited to teach Arabic to the local people. The spread of Arabic was going hand in hand with the spread of Islam. Arabic was used in trade as well as in education. In education, students were required to imitate the teachers as well as to read the Holy book, Qur’an in Arabic. From the above information we can see that that was the time where foreign language is taught in a formal setting of education. Previously foreign language is mostly learnt informally through trading interactions. Thus, through Muslim education, Arabic was spreading fast across the western part of Indonesia.
The spread of Arab and Muslim was dominantly recorded in the western part of Indonesia. In the eastern part of Indonesia, however, Portuguese was a dominant force. They entered east Indonesia in the early fifteenth century. At that time they were looking for herbs as well as other natural produce such as rice, cloves, etc. At the same time they were spreading their religion—Roman Catholic—through missionaries that came along with the traders. (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan 1986, p71) The spread of the language—Portuguese—was done through trade, religion, and education. However, the spread of Portuguese as a foreign language in east Indonesia was not as successful as the spread of Sanskrit and Arab in the west. The reason was because the Portuguese only occupy a number of small islands where as the Arab traders cover most of the major islands in the west. Therefore the spread of Portuguese was only in smaller scale compare to Sanskrit in the west.
In around 1600 the Dutch entered Indonesia for the same reasons as the Arab and Portuguese traders. However, this time they took over the domination of Arab, Chinese, and Portuguese traders because they were more militarily advanced. It was the first time when the archipelago was ruled by one power—Dutch. Alisjahbana (1976, p35) says;
“After 1600 the Dutch East India Company started operations in Indonesia. Although the company was primarily a trading organization, from the beginning it made attempts to propagate Christianity in Indonesia, as the Portuguese had done before them.”
This time however, their attempts were wider in scale and more organized, namely from the east to the west part of Indonesia. Like many other trader that came to Indonesia before, the Dutch was trying to expand its influence in trade, education, religion, and politics. However, unlike the previous traders, their effort was face with more challenges because the people were more educated, had the influence of previous traders, the religions and some form of common languages had been established.
In its effort to gain sympathy from the people, and as a counter act towards the existing influence, the Dutch started to set up schools and churches. It is suggested that the schools and churches were used to spread their religion. However, there was one major obstacle, that is, according to Alisjahbana (1976, p35) the problem of ‘what language should be used for the native inhabitants in the schools and churches’. And the answer was, Dutch. The effort to introduce and socialize Dutch to the Indonesians, however, was a difficult and challenging task. Local languages and dialects had been established. Malay which later on became Bahasa Indonesia was becoming the common language for Indonesians.
Up to this point we can say that the constant changes in the foreign languages that had been introduced to the Indonesians had resulted in the decision made by the people to establish a common language, a language that could be understood by many people. And that common language was obviously Malay because it had been used by many people compare to any other languages. Despite of its origin from India, Malay became the language for the locals. Later on we will see that Indonesians associated it as its own because not only that it was spoken in Indonesia, but also in some neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and some parts of Thailand as well.
As the role of the Dutch and its language became increasingly stronger and more comprehensive in its use, the colonial government became concerned with Indonesian people’s education. Van Der Wal (1961) states that ‘The first real sign pointing towards the provision of education for the native population was the foundation in 1851 of the first training school for native teachers’ (p5). Prior to this year, education was exclusively offered for the Dutch or people with European background. Indonesians on the other hand, were left behind. Three years later, in 1854, in the Government Regulation a chapter was dedicated for education. It imposed the Governor General the responsibility to set up schools for the native population (Van Der Wal, 1961), (Alisjahbana, 1976). In 1863, the Minister of Colonies instructed the Government of the Netherlands East Indies to give equal opportunity for Indonesian people to receive education. It became clear to this point that the Dutch government had a strong political purpose of providing education for Indonesian. It was through education that they wanted to impose their ideology and control the people’s idea, and consolidate their ruling powers. This was confirmed in the statement made by Minister of Colonies that said the Government should not wait until Indonesian people become aware of the importance of education (Van Der Wal, 1961).
The result was, primary schools and teacher training colleges were established. This was the first time where education became available not only for Indonesians in the west but also in the east. ‘In 1875 there were three Teachers Training Colleges in Java and five in the other islands’ (pp 35-6) The number of schools were growing. However, there were division in schools between native people and the Dutch. The schools for native people were divided into two categories. The first category is for the children from upper class and the second category is for children from lower class. The Dutch schools and only the first category native schools are done using the medium of Dutch language (p36).
The different categorization of schools and languages used in the Dutch education system may have a contributing factors to the less spread of the Dutch in Indonesia. The government’s intention to make Dutch as an exclusive language for the upper class also could be one of the determining factors of Dutch among Indonesians in later years. The exclusivity of Dutch, on the other hand, had made Indonesians more aware of the importance of their common language—Malay—as their own language. Thus, Malay became stronger and more likeable by Indonesians.
In the early nineteenth century however, there was a growing “ethical trend in colonial policy”. The Dutch government was brought to the realization that despite of their power over the century throughout the century, less attention had been given to Indonesian people about the European culture. In fact, Indonesian people had little knowledge about Western civilization. The Dutch realized that there was a need for Indonesian people to be educated with European culture.
“When Mr. J. H. Abendanon became the Director of the Department of Education in 1900, he made strenuous efforts to foster and spread the use of Dutch throughout Indonesia. He was convinced that a knowledge of Dutch would be the shortest way for the Indonesian people to absorb Western culture. He instituted courses in Dutch in the People’s schools (providing six years of education) and later made Dutch a compulsory subject in these schools from the third to the sixth class. As a result Dutch became an extremely important subject of study in the Teachers Colleges.” (Alisjahbana, 1976, p37)
At this point in time Dutch was becoming the symbol of belonging for the new upper class in Indonesian people. Dutch became not only as a necessary medium for gaining Western education but also for getting a high salary. For the lower class of people, being able to learn Dutch became a symbol of a better social status because it was believed to be a promise of a better education that would eventually lead to a better lifestyle. From the educational perspectives, the purposes of teaching foreign language were shifting towards cultural exchange.
Dutch government utilized every effort to make Dutch as an official language in economic, politic, and education. One of Dutch’s educational experts who made great efforts to promote the adoption of Dutch in Indonesia was Dr. C. J Nieuwenhuis. Nieuwenhuis, according to Alisjahbana (1976), wanted to make Dutch a ‘unifying force in Indonesia’ (p38). One of his strong viewpoints on the importance of Dutch was;
“If we want to promote Indonesian unity, let us begin first with the highest social classes, with the elite; and then, as the British did in India and the French in Annam, we must institute a language which can represent international culture fully as the general medium for social intercourse. In Indonesia this language will have to be Dutch” (p38)
His influence in spreading the importance of the use of Dutch remained only until 1920’s. The strategies to use the upper class to start with seemed to be the weakest point in the effort to promote a more universal use of Dutch. There were simply not many people that fall in that category because the majority was in the lower class. The gap between the upper and the lower class had been very wide that the popularity of Dutch did not meet the expectation. As a result, there was a growing concern by the Dutch government on the use of Malay as the common language for Indonesia. The fact that more opportunity for Indonesian people to acquire higher education, and more important posts in Dutch government were being filled by Indonesians were the main reasons of the concern. The competition between Dutch and Malay as the common language was in its highest during this time. The Dutch government wanted their language to be the common language for Indonesians. On the other hand, the majority of people were using Malay as their language. The competition made many intellectuals and upper class Indonesians realized the need for the acceptance of Malay as the common language for Indonesians.
On October 28, 1928, at the Second Congress of Indonesian Youth, in Jakarta, Indonesians pledged to the adoption of Malay—which later on became Bahasa Indonesia—as the language of unity. At this time the competition between Dutch and Malay ended. However, despite of Malay being chosen as the language of unity little was achieved in terms of spreading this language to other rural places particularly in the eastern part of Indonesia. It was due to some reasons namely, the still continuing Dutch power, and later on the introduction of another different foreign language after the Dutch.
In early 1940’s, the Japanese came to Indonesia and took power over Dutch. In 1942 the Japanese seized all the government equipment from the Dutch. One of their priorities was to eliminate the use of Dutch which had been the medium of entry to the world of Western culture for Indonesians. ‘It was clear … that the Japanese intended to replace Dutch by Japanese’ (Alisjahbana 1976, p40) Dutch was prohibited in economics, politics, as well as education. Once again Indonesians were forced to forget Dutch—the language that had been so important in everyday lives—and to learn another new foreign language—Japanese. The Japanese saw the importance of language for the purpose of cultural invasion. That is why Japanese was imposed to Indonesians to replace Dutch as the common language. And like the Dutch, Japanese is also taught for political and cultural reasons. The only other language that was allowed to be used was Malay or Bahasa Indonesia because it was thought to be the language of the people.
The use of Japanese, like many other foreign languages introduced, faced difficulties in its adoptions. Despite of their radical impositions there had been some forms of resistance from the people. The Japanese era was seen to be the turning point for Indonesians in terms of popularizing and socializing Bahasa Indonesia throughout the country. This was the time when the use of Indonesian language as the national language be promoted to Indonesian people.
The Japanese occupation did not last long. In 1945 Indonesian revolution broke out after the Declaration of Independence on the 17th of August. Since then Bahasa Indonesia was accepted as the official language for Indonesian people. Soon after the Japanese lost the Second World War, Dutch government once again tried to establish Federal states of East Indonesia despite of the declaration of independence. The Dutch second occupation on Indonesia, however, did not last long. In 1949 Indonesian gained its independence from the Dutch once and for all.
It was a transitional period for Indonesia as a new country. Indonesians were overwhelmed by the spirit of independence, and the freedom from the colonial powers. The use of Bahasa Indonesia was overwhelmingly accepted by the people. In terms of the foreign languages, the Dutch remained influential in economic, education, and politics while the Japanese influence was only short lived. However, soon after the first government was established, Dutch was gradually replaced by Bahasa Indonesia. In general, this is the end of a long period of colonial powers and the impositions of their languages. For the people, the constant changes of foreign language had formed the patterns of the attitude towards learning a foreign language. As to how the attitude towards foreign language was formed will be discussed more elaborately in later chapters.
2.3. Foreign language teaching after the independence
Once Indonesia’s independence was finally recognized when the Dutch left in 1950, it was time to choose what foreign languages to be taught in school. Soenjono (2000) says that Dutch was not chosen as one of the foreign languages despite of its long period of colonization. The reasons were, firstly, ‘Dutch was the language of the colonialist, and secondly, it did not have an international stature’ (85). The implication of this statement was simple, that is, Indonesians did not want to adopt a colonial language. This was a reflection of the people’s attitudes towards Dutch and other colonial powers. The experience Indonesians had with the colonials must have impacted on the selection of the foreign language. Moreover, the Dutch did not meet the criteria of a language that is widely used as a lingua franca. In fact, it pointed towards English as a language of what thought to become an international stature and it has become one. Therefore, English was then selected as the first foreign languages to be taught in Indonesian schools.
Given that Indonesia had just gained its independence, the attempt to socialize and teach English to its people was a major challenge. Its human resources essentially had inadequate skills in education and training to teach English. On the other hand, there were political and economical problems. The political climate and the economic condition was not conducive and unstable. People as well as the governments were more concerned in stabilizing its political and economical situations than in improving its education at least not until the situation later on became more stable. As a result, Indonesian government then decided to get some assistance from foreign countries.
It was through its ambassador to the US, Ali Sastroamidjojo, that Indonesia was given the In—service English Teacher Training Project, through Ford Foundation, in October 1953 (Soenjono, 2000; 86). This project was to assist Indonesia in developing and improving its education and training program. It was used to build the much needed education infrastructure and English teacher training program for Indonesians. Through this grant scholarships were given for qualified Indonesians to take English teaching courses in universities in Indonesia and also in the US. On the other hand, it was also used to develop English teaching materials. In general, the main goal of this project was to socialize English language teaching in schools as ‘speedily, effectively, and extensively as possible’ (Gregory cited in Soenjono 2000;86). This was an important development in English teaching in Indonesia. In fact, it was the first nation wide efforts by the government to adopt English as a foreign language in schools. In other words, we can say that this was a period of significant achievement in adopting English in Indonesia.
All through these early years of English being introduced to Indonesian schools, there had also been much assistance coming from other countries and organizations such as The British Council, Australia and New Zealand with its Colombo Plan[3]. Many Indonesian English teachers were trained in these countries through their scholarships. And even today, some of these scholarships are still available. The result of the Colombo Plan in Indonesia was significantly crucial to the development of education in general and more importantly towards English teaching. There have been quite a significant number of English teachers trained under this scholarship and is still counting.
Ever since, English has become one of the main subjects in schools starting from junior high school to senior high school. English has never been needed more from the time when the issue of globalization spread in early 1990s. Ever since, many private English courses were opened. People started to realize the importance of English not only in schools but also in daily life. For people from high economic income, sending their children to foreign countries, especially English speaking countries were becoming a trend. It is a trend for social prestige. According to a survey done by the Education department in 1990s more Indonesian students are studying in other countries and are still increasing. On the other hand, for the lower economic income family, most of their children were enrolled in privately run English courses. As a result of this trend, many private English courses were operating in big cities, and more and more people, young and old join in these courses. The reason behind the increasing popularity of English was perhaps due to the economic growth and political stability Indonesians were experiencing back in the early 1990s.
[Nevertheless, despite of the importance of English in Indonesian education system, there have been some major concerns by some English experts on the contents of the English curricula for schools. The concerns were on the domination of ‘Indonesian language and literature, history, religious education and Pancasila education’ in the curriculum (Leigh 1991 in Nilan 2003: 566). Moreover, they claimed that such themes of subjects are considered to be inappropriate in current situation in the effort to equip the students for a challenging economy development. Furthermore, they said that what the students needed more today is the kind of subjects that can help them in their work. They added on by saying that the option for a better education output is an education reform in order to create more skilled workers if Indonesia wants to be able to compete in global market era.]
Besides English language, there were also other foreign languages selected as foreign languages for Indonesians. These languages are German, French, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese (Soenjono, 2000; 85). They also became the official foreign languages taught in schools, however, they were not as popular as English because they are only offered as a subject in schools. The other reason is that it is less likely for the students to use it outside the classroom. These languages only become significant for some students who would likely visit the particular country where the language is spoken, other wise it has no other significance. They are also offered to senior high school students with the major in language studies, or in academy with the orientation for tourism industry, or in religious base institution for example Islamic education and Chinese community schools.
In other words, they are popular in the non formal schooling system such as private courses to a small number of students. In general, the numbers of learners on these languages are considered to be low, except for Arabic which is considered to be a popular language among the Muslim because of the fact that it is the majority religion. Although there are no exact figures on the numbers of people who are able to read or speak Arabic in Indonesia, considering the number of Muslim population that approximately comprises more than 80% of the total population, it is arguably the preferred foreign language among Muslims in Indonesia besides English.
It could be said that for religious purposes, it is the most common foreign language for this group of people. However, despite of its religious popularity, it is only offered in Islamic schools in Indonesia and not in the general schools. In the Islamic schools it is the formal foreign language which is introduced from the lower level of education of the Islamic education system. However, contrary to the fact, it is not as universal a language in Indonesia as English. It is only true in the central parts of Indonesia with the high concentration of Muslim. But because Indonesia is a country of thousand islands with different religious history, there are some parts of Indonesia that are dominated by Christian religion. In this region Arabic is less or non importance at all. On the other hand, English is more dominant in these regions.
Conclusion
In general, we can say that the history of foreign language education in Indonesia is a unique one. Through out the history different foreign languages have been introduced. The introduction of these foreign languages is somehow related to the particular situation at a particular time in history. Based on this historical overview, we can divide the introduction of foreign languages into two general parts, that is, before the independence period which covers the periods of early colonization up to before the independence in 1945, and the period after the independence which started in the late 1940s up to today.
The introduction of foreign language in the early years of colonization can be said are done through the trade. In other words there was no intention of teaching the foreign language for Indonesians. The main reason of introducing the foreign language by the traders was instrumentally driven for economic purposes. The fact that Indonesia is rich with its natural resources was the reason for these traders to come and settle in Indonesia. And it is during their stay in Indonesia which according to the history records can range from a couple of years to hundreds of years that their languages were learnt by the Indonesians. Although different parts of Indonesia were being introduced with different foreign language at that time, we cannot deny the fact that it has contributed to the richness of the Bahasa Indonesia today. In fact, we can say that it is through the early traders that brought their languages, in particular the Sanskrit, that throughout the historical development and with the influences of other local dialects and foreign languages that it eventually became the common language today, that is, Bahasa Indonesia.
The introduction of foreign languages at the early period of colonization can be said to be locally based. This means that it is only where the traders or the colonial powers settled that the foreign languages were introduced. In other words, it is not universal. At least not until the Dutch colonial power ruled over Indonesia that the introduction of foreign language, that is Dutch, became more universal throughout Indonesia. It is during this time that the introduction of Dutch in the formal schooling system started. Moreover, it is also the time where other foreign languages such as English were introduced.
As we will see in more detail in the next chapter how English came to become a dominant foreign language in schools through the more structured education system introduced by the Dutch. Not only that during this time the foreign languages, that is Dutch, and English were introduced in the formal education, but also for the first time a more universal education system was established. Dutch eventually became a dominant foreign language in Indonesia during their occupation.
The popularity of Dutch as the foreign language for Indonesians over the period of more than three hundred years, however, left little impression when Indonesia gained its independence. It did not emerge as the favorable foreign language to be adopted in the modern Indonesia. In fact, it was not selected as the official foreign language for Indonesians. In the end, it is English that became the dominant foreign language for Indonesians. It is the first foreign languages selected to be taught in the school. And today, not only that it is becoming popular in the formal schooling system, as we will se in later chapters, it is also in the non formal schooling sectors.
Overall, we can draw a number of important points from this chapter. It was through the foreign powers that foreign languages were introduced to Indonesians and not its local people who introduced them. It is fact that the foreign languages were taught and learnt for economical, political, educational, and cultural reasons. Foreign language learning was also limited to certain groups of people and not available to all. We can also say that the reluctance the people had in learning foreign languages was based on their resentment towards the foreign powers. In other words, they wanted to learn a different foreign language in order to get rid another foreign language.
In general, to most Indonesians, learning a foreign language simply meant learning a third language apart from the common language—Malay which later on became Bahasa Indonesia. Finally, the process and experiences of learning different foreign languages throughout the history of colonialism have some how impacted the way Indonesians selected the first foreign languages to be taught formally in Indonesia. As a result, English was selected simply because it was not related to the colonial powers, and that it was considered to have an international stature. Nevertheless, when it was first selected, it also faced similar resistance from the general public.
In the next chapter we will see that despite of the constant challenges towards English teachings and its innovation in the curriculum since the early independence up to now, it is still a popular foreign language in Indonesia. There will be discussions on its ups and downs from its teaching history in the curriculum as the first foreign language up to its influence in recent years, and how it plays a crucial role in Indonesia today.
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 13.600 islands (Brown 2003, p5). It stretches out over an area of, in terms of Australia, as far as from Perth to Brisbane, or in terms of America, from Los Angeles to Boston. This large area is divided by sea and rivers into thousands of islands. The larger islands are divided by high mountain ranges into hundreds of isolated districts. The differences between the languages and speech communities are so large that it can be called as different languages and dialects. Such diversity of languages makes Indonesia unique. As Brown (2003) says ‘until recently its waterways have been much more important than roads as transport routes. It was along the seaways and river routes that … languages moved.’ (p5). People learn different languages and dialects through constant travel across the seaways and rivers.
According to an Indonesia linguist, Alisjahbana (1976) due to its extensive nature, Indonesia is ‘fragmented into hundreds of geographical, cultural and, most important, linguistic units’ (p32). Furthermore he suggests that these differences in languages have resulted in the need of a ‘single common language that could be understood not only by natives of the archipelago but also by the constant waves of foreigners’ (p32). When the archipelago was ruled, politically and culturally, by foreign powers, that was the time when the language of that ruling power was used as a common language by some population. The term ‘common language’, for many Indonesians, can be categorized as a foreign language because it may not be the language used by the native people of the archipelago. It might be brought in and introduced by the foreigners. Some of the foreign languages used by the ruling powers during a particular time were ‘Sanskrit in the Hindu period’, ‘Arabic in the age of Islam’, ‘Dutch and English under colonialism’ and ‘Japanese under the Japanese occupation’ (p32)
The current Indonesian language, which is called Bahasa Indonesia, was once a foreign language to many of its population. Indonesian language was formerly called Malay (Alisjahbana 1976). It was during the Dutch colonial rule that Malay became a common language for some native people of Indonesia. On October 28, 1928, however, at the Second Congress of Indonesian Youth held in Jakarta, the word Malay was formally replaced by Indonesian to describe the language. (Alisjahbana 1976, p39) This was the turning point for Indonesian people. For the first time Bahasa Indonesia became the formal language or the common language for Indonesians. Later on, the status of Bahasa Indonesia as the national language was confirmed on the Indonesian basic fundamental law of 1945 (UUD 1945, Bab XV, Pasal 36, Ayat 2) when Indonesia gained its independence in 1945.
The process of socializing Bahasa Indonesia to the people in this archipelago took many years. And until today, despite of the significant achievement of the teaching of Bahasa Indonesia through education, some still considered it as a foreign or second language. According to the 1990 Census done by the Indonesian National Bureau of Statistics, from the total population of 158.262.640 people, 15, 07% (23.802.520) Indonesians communicate using Bahasa Indonesia as their first language, 67,80% (107.066.316) as their second language, and 17,13% (27.055.488) of the total population are illiterate, which neither read, write, nor speak Bahasa Indonesia (Alwi, cited from Maryanto, 2005, http://www.ialf.edu/kepbipa/papers/Maryanto.doc ). The statistics clearly gives an indication that the “common language” itself is still considered by some Indonesians as a foreign language. In other words, learning a second language (L2) is a difficult task for Indonesian. As we will see in this chapter, there had been constant changes in the foreign languages introduced throughout the history. It may be one of the influential factors affecting EFL learning in later years.
In this chapter, a historical overview of foreign language teaching will be made. We will be looking on how the languages were introduced, their development and what influence they have made on Indonesian people. The foreign languages that will be dealt with are divided into two major parts. The first is the foreign language(s) used before the independence, and the second is after the independence period. The foreign language in this study refers to the languages that were brought in and introduced by foreigners apart from Bahasa Indonesia.
2.2. Foreign language teaching in the early years before the independence.
Foreign languages were introduced to Indonesia mainly by foreign traders for economical purposes, as well as by religious missionaries who come to Indonesia along with the traders. According to Brown (2003), there were evidence from a number of countries that traded with Indonesia, such as China, which suggested that as early as 500 BCE (Before Current Era), some part of Java were treading with mainland Southeast Asia, south China and the east coast of the Indian peninsula. He suggested that there was a recorded links between Sriwijaya—one of the great kingdoms at that time—and China. (p13). This suggested that, at least there was a form of common language established between the traders and the Indonesians. At this stage foreign languages were used mainly for trading purposes. The language is learnt through real communication. The meaning, rather than forms, was the primary concern of the learners. If people were not involved in trading, they would not be interested in the language. This suggested that foreign language is learnt because of economical driven. People were reluctant to learn foreign language because they knew that it is the only way they can communicate with foreign traders.
There were two famous Chinese scholars named I-Tsing and Hwui-Ning who recorded the situation in Sriwijaya around the 660’s. I-Tsing, according to Alisjahbana (1976, 32-33) was a prominent scholar who said that ‘Sriwijaya was a great center of learning, where translations were made from the native language into Chinese’. From his descriptions it is also known that apart from the native language used as an instrument of communication, Sanskrit was also used in political and religious life. (p33) It is unclear whether Chinese was used at that time also. However, it is certain that Sanskrit was a ‘foreign’ language that was used at that time. The strong influence of Hindu and Buddhist had a significant contribution in the adoption of Sanskrit[1]. It became the language of instructions in ‘education’. According to I-Tsing (cited from Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1986, p60) the methodology and education system used in the ‘university’ during the Sriwijaya era was exactly the same as the one used in India. This suggested that there had been a link between Indonesia and India that resulted in the transfer of knowledge and skills. Moreover, he said that, students from China can study in Sriwijaya before continuing their study in India[2]. This implied that Sanskrit was also being used not only for trading but also education purposes. The educational purpose of learning a foreign language at this time was closely related to the religious reasons as well. The Chinese came to Indonesia to learn Buddhism because it was the prominent religion at that time. Even today, we can see traces of its glory from the temples such as the famous Borobudur Temple. Therefore, we can say that foreign language learning is not only for economic and educational purposes but also cultural exchange. Indonesians learn Sanskrit from India, the Chinese came and learned Buddhism as well as Indonesian culture.
Later on when the Hindu and Buddhist kingdom fell to the hands of Muslim traders from Arab and India in the thirteenth century, the use of Arabic was gradually introduced. The use of Arab became more popular through the development of Muslim education which focused more on the religious aspects. The introduction of Arabic alphabet was recorded as early as elementary students. (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1986, p65). Native Arab speakers as well as local teachers that had been trained by Arabs were being recruited to teach Arabic to the local people. The spread of Arabic was going hand in hand with the spread of Islam. Arabic was used in trade as well as in education. In education, students were required to imitate the teachers as well as to read the Holy book, Qur’an in Arabic. From the above information we can see that that was the time where foreign language is taught in a formal setting of education. Previously foreign language is mostly learnt informally through trading interactions. Thus, through Muslim education, Arabic was spreading fast across the western part of Indonesia.
The spread of Arab and Muslim was dominantly recorded in the western part of Indonesia. In the eastern part of Indonesia, however, Portuguese was a dominant force. They entered east Indonesia in the early fifteenth century. At that time they were looking for herbs as well as other natural produce such as rice, cloves, etc. At the same time they were spreading their religion—Roman Catholic—through missionaries that came along with the traders. (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan 1986, p71) The spread of the language—Portuguese—was done through trade, religion, and education. However, the spread of Portuguese as a foreign language in east Indonesia was not as successful as the spread of Sanskrit and Arab in the west. The reason was because the Portuguese only occupy a number of small islands where as the Arab traders cover most of the major islands in the west. Therefore the spread of Portuguese was only in smaller scale compare to Sanskrit in the west.
In around 1600 the Dutch entered Indonesia for the same reasons as the Arab and Portuguese traders. However, this time they took over the domination of Arab, Chinese, and Portuguese traders because they were more militarily advanced. It was the first time when the archipelago was ruled by one power—Dutch. Alisjahbana (1976, p35) says;
“After 1600 the Dutch East India Company started operations in Indonesia. Although the company was primarily a trading organization, from the beginning it made attempts to propagate Christianity in Indonesia, as the Portuguese had done before them.”
This time however, their attempts were wider in scale and more organized, namely from the east to the west part of Indonesia. Like many other trader that came to Indonesia before, the Dutch was trying to expand its influence in trade, education, religion, and politics. However, unlike the previous traders, their effort was face with more challenges because the people were more educated, had the influence of previous traders, the religions and some form of common languages had been established.
In its effort to gain sympathy from the people, and as a counter act towards the existing influence, the Dutch started to set up schools and churches. It is suggested that the schools and churches were used to spread their religion. However, there was one major obstacle, that is, according to Alisjahbana (1976, p35) the problem of ‘what language should be used for the native inhabitants in the schools and churches’. And the answer was, Dutch. The effort to introduce and socialize Dutch to the Indonesians, however, was a difficult and challenging task. Local languages and dialects had been established. Malay which later on became Bahasa Indonesia was becoming the common language for Indonesians.
Up to this point we can say that the constant changes in the foreign languages that had been introduced to the Indonesians had resulted in the decision made by the people to establish a common language, a language that could be understood by many people. And that common language was obviously Malay because it had been used by many people compare to any other languages. Despite of its origin from India, Malay became the language for the locals. Later on we will see that Indonesians associated it as its own because not only that it was spoken in Indonesia, but also in some neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and some parts of Thailand as well.
As the role of the Dutch and its language became increasingly stronger and more comprehensive in its use, the colonial government became concerned with Indonesian people’s education. Van Der Wal (1961) states that ‘The first real sign pointing towards the provision of education for the native population was the foundation in 1851 of the first training school for native teachers’ (p5). Prior to this year, education was exclusively offered for the Dutch or people with European background. Indonesians on the other hand, were left behind. Three years later, in 1854, in the Government Regulation a chapter was dedicated for education. It imposed the Governor General the responsibility to set up schools for the native population (Van Der Wal, 1961), (Alisjahbana, 1976). In 1863, the Minister of Colonies instructed the Government of the Netherlands East Indies to give equal opportunity for Indonesian people to receive education. It became clear to this point that the Dutch government had a strong political purpose of providing education for Indonesian. It was through education that they wanted to impose their ideology and control the people’s idea, and consolidate their ruling powers. This was confirmed in the statement made by Minister of Colonies that said the Government should not wait until Indonesian people become aware of the importance of education (Van Der Wal, 1961).
The result was, primary schools and teacher training colleges were established. This was the first time where education became available not only for Indonesians in the west but also in the east. ‘In 1875 there were three Teachers Training Colleges in Java and five in the other islands’ (pp 35-6) The number of schools were growing. However, there were division in schools between native people and the Dutch. The schools for native people were divided into two categories. The first category is for the children from upper class and the second category is for children from lower class. The Dutch schools and only the first category native schools are done using the medium of Dutch language (p36).
The different categorization of schools and languages used in the Dutch education system may have a contributing factors to the less spread of the Dutch in Indonesia. The government’s intention to make Dutch as an exclusive language for the upper class also could be one of the determining factors of Dutch among Indonesians in later years. The exclusivity of Dutch, on the other hand, had made Indonesians more aware of the importance of their common language—Malay—as their own language. Thus, Malay became stronger and more likeable by Indonesians.
In the early nineteenth century however, there was a growing “ethical trend in colonial policy”. The Dutch government was brought to the realization that despite of their power over the century throughout the century, less attention had been given to Indonesian people about the European culture. In fact, Indonesian people had little knowledge about Western civilization. The Dutch realized that there was a need for Indonesian people to be educated with European culture.
“When Mr. J. H. Abendanon became the Director of the Department of Education in 1900, he made strenuous efforts to foster and spread the use of Dutch throughout Indonesia. He was convinced that a knowledge of Dutch would be the shortest way for the Indonesian people to absorb Western culture. He instituted courses in Dutch in the People’s schools (providing six years of education) and later made Dutch a compulsory subject in these schools from the third to the sixth class. As a result Dutch became an extremely important subject of study in the Teachers Colleges.” (Alisjahbana, 1976, p37)
At this point in time Dutch was becoming the symbol of belonging for the new upper class in Indonesian people. Dutch became not only as a necessary medium for gaining Western education but also for getting a high salary. For the lower class of people, being able to learn Dutch became a symbol of a better social status because it was believed to be a promise of a better education that would eventually lead to a better lifestyle. From the educational perspectives, the purposes of teaching foreign language were shifting towards cultural exchange.
Dutch government utilized every effort to make Dutch as an official language in economic, politic, and education. One of Dutch’s educational experts who made great efforts to promote the adoption of Dutch in Indonesia was Dr. C. J Nieuwenhuis. Nieuwenhuis, according to Alisjahbana (1976), wanted to make Dutch a ‘unifying force in Indonesia’ (p38). One of his strong viewpoints on the importance of Dutch was;
“If we want to promote Indonesian unity, let us begin first with the highest social classes, with the elite; and then, as the British did in India and the French in Annam, we must institute a language which can represent international culture fully as the general medium for social intercourse. In Indonesia this language will have to be Dutch” (p38)
His influence in spreading the importance of the use of Dutch remained only until 1920’s. The strategies to use the upper class to start with seemed to be the weakest point in the effort to promote a more universal use of Dutch. There were simply not many people that fall in that category because the majority was in the lower class. The gap between the upper and the lower class had been very wide that the popularity of Dutch did not meet the expectation. As a result, there was a growing concern by the Dutch government on the use of Malay as the common language for Indonesia. The fact that more opportunity for Indonesian people to acquire higher education, and more important posts in Dutch government were being filled by Indonesians were the main reasons of the concern. The competition between Dutch and Malay as the common language was in its highest during this time. The Dutch government wanted their language to be the common language for Indonesians. On the other hand, the majority of people were using Malay as their language. The competition made many intellectuals and upper class Indonesians realized the need for the acceptance of Malay as the common language for Indonesians.
On October 28, 1928, at the Second Congress of Indonesian Youth, in Jakarta, Indonesians pledged to the adoption of Malay—which later on became Bahasa Indonesia—as the language of unity. At this time the competition between Dutch and Malay ended. However, despite of Malay being chosen as the language of unity little was achieved in terms of spreading this language to other rural places particularly in the eastern part of Indonesia. It was due to some reasons namely, the still continuing Dutch power, and later on the introduction of another different foreign language after the Dutch.
In early 1940’s, the Japanese came to Indonesia and took power over Dutch. In 1942 the Japanese seized all the government equipment from the Dutch. One of their priorities was to eliminate the use of Dutch which had been the medium of entry to the world of Western culture for Indonesians. ‘It was clear … that the Japanese intended to replace Dutch by Japanese’ (Alisjahbana 1976, p40) Dutch was prohibited in economics, politics, as well as education. Once again Indonesians were forced to forget Dutch—the language that had been so important in everyday lives—and to learn another new foreign language—Japanese. The Japanese saw the importance of language for the purpose of cultural invasion. That is why Japanese was imposed to Indonesians to replace Dutch as the common language. And like the Dutch, Japanese is also taught for political and cultural reasons. The only other language that was allowed to be used was Malay or Bahasa Indonesia because it was thought to be the language of the people.
The use of Japanese, like many other foreign languages introduced, faced difficulties in its adoptions. Despite of their radical impositions there had been some forms of resistance from the people. The Japanese era was seen to be the turning point for Indonesians in terms of popularizing and socializing Bahasa Indonesia throughout the country. This was the time when the use of Indonesian language as the national language be promoted to Indonesian people.
The Japanese occupation did not last long. In 1945 Indonesian revolution broke out after the Declaration of Independence on the 17th of August. Since then Bahasa Indonesia was accepted as the official language for Indonesian people. Soon after the Japanese lost the Second World War, Dutch government once again tried to establish Federal states of East Indonesia despite of the declaration of independence. The Dutch second occupation on Indonesia, however, did not last long. In 1949 Indonesian gained its independence from the Dutch once and for all.
It was a transitional period for Indonesia as a new country. Indonesians were overwhelmed by the spirit of independence, and the freedom from the colonial powers. The use of Bahasa Indonesia was overwhelmingly accepted by the people. In terms of the foreign languages, the Dutch remained influential in economic, education, and politics while the Japanese influence was only short lived. However, soon after the first government was established, Dutch was gradually replaced by Bahasa Indonesia. In general, this is the end of a long period of colonial powers and the impositions of their languages. For the people, the constant changes of foreign language had formed the patterns of the attitude towards learning a foreign language. As to how the attitude towards foreign language was formed will be discussed more elaborately in later chapters.
2.3. Foreign language teaching after the independence
Once Indonesia’s independence was finally recognized when the Dutch left in 1950, it was time to choose what foreign languages to be taught in school. Soenjono (2000) says that Dutch was not chosen as one of the foreign languages despite of its long period of colonization. The reasons were, firstly, ‘Dutch was the language of the colonialist, and secondly, it did not have an international stature’ (85). The implication of this statement was simple, that is, Indonesians did not want to adopt a colonial language. This was a reflection of the people’s attitudes towards Dutch and other colonial powers. The experience Indonesians had with the colonials must have impacted on the selection of the foreign language. Moreover, the Dutch did not meet the criteria of a language that is widely used as a lingua franca. In fact, it pointed towards English as a language of what thought to become an international stature and it has become one. Therefore, English was then selected as the first foreign languages to be taught in Indonesian schools.
Given that Indonesia had just gained its independence, the attempt to socialize and teach English to its people was a major challenge. Its human resources essentially had inadequate skills in education and training to teach English. On the other hand, there were political and economical problems. The political climate and the economic condition was not conducive and unstable. People as well as the governments were more concerned in stabilizing its political and economical situations than in improving its education at least not until the situation later on became more stable. As a result, Indonesian government then decided to get some assistance from foreign countries.
It was through its ambassador to the US, Ali Sastroamidjojo, that Indonesia was given the In—service English Teacher Training Project, through Ford Foundation, in October 1953 (Soenjono, 2000; 86). This project was to assist Indonesia in developing and improving its education and training program. It was used to build the much needed education infrastructure and English teacher training program for Indonesians. Through this grant scholarships were given for qualified Indonesians to take English teaching courses in universities in Indonesia and also in the US. On the other hand, it was also used to develop English teaching materials. In general, the main goal of this project was to socialize English language teaching in schools as ‘speedily, effectively, and extensively as possible’ (Gregory cited in Soenjono 2000;86). This was an important development in English teaching in Indonesia. In fact, it was the first nation wide efforts by the government to adopt English as a foreign language in schools. In other words, we can say that this was a period of significant achievement in adopting English in Indonesia.
All through these early years of English being introduced to Indonesian schools, there had also been much assistance coming from other countries and organizations such as The British Council, Australia and New Zealand with its Colombo Plan[3]. Many Indonesian English teachers were trained in these countries through their scholarships. And even today, some of these scholarships are still available. The result of the Colombo Plan in Indonesia was significantly crucial to the development of education in general and more importantly towards English teaching. There have been quite a significant number of English teachers trained under this scholarship and is still counting.
Ever since, English has become one of the main subjects in schools starting from junior high school to senior high school. English has never been needed more from the time when the issue of globalization spread in early 1990s. Ever since, many private English courses were opened. People started to realize the importance of English not only in schools but also in daily life. For people from high economic income, sending their children to foreign countries, especially English speaking countries were becoming a trend. It is a trend for social prestige. According to a survey done by the Education department in 1990s more Indonesian students are studying in other countries and are still increasing. On the other hand, for the lower economic income family, most of their children were enrolled in privately run English courses. As a result of this trend, many private English courses were operating in big cities, and more and more people, young and old join in these courses. The reason behind the increasing popularity of English was perhaps due to the economic growth and political stability Indonesians were experiencing back in the early 1990s.
[Nevertheless, despite of the importance of English in Indonesian education system, there have been some major concerns by some English experts on the contents of the English curricula for schools. The concerns were on the domination of ‘Indonesian language and literature, history, religious education and Pancasila education’ in the curriculum (Leigh 1991 in Nilan 2003: 566). Moreover, they claimed that such themes of subjects are considered to be inappropriate in current situation in the effort to equip the students for a challenging economy development. Furthermore, they said that what the students needed more today is the kind of subjects that can help them in their work. They added on by saying that the option for a better education output is an education reform in order to create more skilled workers if Indonesia wants to be able to compete in global market era.]
Besides English language, there were also other foreign languages selected as foreign languages for Indonesians. These languages are German, French, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese (Soenjono, 2000; 85). They also became the official foreign languages taught in schools, however, they were not as popular as English because they are only offered as a subject in schools. The other reason is that it is less likely for the students to use it outside the classroom. These languages only become significant for some students who would likely visit the particular country where the language is spoken, other wise it has no other significance. They are also offered to senior high school students with the major in language studies, or in academy with the orientation for tourism industry, or in religious base institution for example Islamic education and Chinese community schools.
In other words, they are popular in the non formal schooling system such as private courses to a small number of students. In general, the numbers of learners on these languages are considered to be low, except for Arabic which is considered to be a popular language among the Muslim because of the fact that it is the majority religion. Although there are no exact figures on the numbers of people who are able to read or speak Arabic in Indonesia, considering the number of Muslim population that approximately comprises more than 80% of the total population, it is arguably the preferred foreign language among Muslims in Indonesia besides English.
It could be said that for religious purposes, it is the most common foreign language for this group of people. However, despite of its religious popularity, it is only offered in Islamic schools in Indonesia and not in the general schools. In the Islamic schools it is the formal foreign language which is introduced from the lower level of education of the Islamic education system. However, contrary to the fact, it is not as universal a language in Indonesia as English. It is only true in the central parts of Indonesia with the high concentration of Muslim. But because Indonesia is a country of thousand islands with different religious history, there are some parts of Indonesia that are dominated by Christian religion. In this region Arabic is less or non importance at all. On the other hand, English is more dominant in these regions.
Conclusion
In general, we can say that the history of foreign language education in Indonesia is a unique one. Through out the history different foreign languages have been introduced. The introduction of these foreign languages is somehow related to the particular situation at a particular time in history. Based on this historical overview, we can divide the introduction of foreign languages into two general parts, that is, before the independence period which covers the periods of early colonization up to before the independence in 1945, and the period after the independence which started in the late 1940s up to today.
The introduction of foreign language in the early years of colonization can be said are done through the trade. In other words there was no intention of teaching the foreign language for Indonesians. The main reason of introducing the foreign language by the traders was instrumentally driven for economic purposes. The fact that Indonesia is rich with its natural resources was the reason for these traders to come and settle in Indonesia. And it is during their stay in Indonesia which according to the history records can range from a couple of years to hundreds of years that their languages were learnt by the Indonesians. Although different parts of Indonesia were being introduced with different foreign language at that time, we cannot deny the fact that it has contributed to the richness of the Bahasa Indonesia today. In fact, we can say that it is through the early traders that brought their languages, in particular the Sanskrit, that throughout the historical development and with the influences of other local dialects and foreign languages that it eventually became the common language today, that is, Bahasa Indonesia.
The introduction of foreign languages at the early period of colonization can be said to be locally based. This means that it is only where the traders or the colonial powers settled that the foreign languages were introduced. In other words, it is not universal. At least not until the Dutch colonial power ruled over Indonesia that the introduction of foreign language, that is Dutch, became more universal throughout Indonesia. It is during this time that the introduction of Dutch in the formal schooling system started. Moreover, it is also the time where other foreign languages such as English were introduced.
As we will see in more detail in the next chapter how English came to become a dominant foreign language in schools through the more structured education system introduced by the Dutch. Not only that during this time the foreign languages, that is Dutch, and English were introduced in the formal education, but also for the first time a more universal education system was established. Dutch eventually became a dominant foreign language in Indonesia during their occupation.
The popularity of Dutch as the foreign language for Indonesians over the period of more than three hundred years, however, left little impression when Indonesia gained its independence. It did not emerge as the favorable foreign language to be adopted in the modern Indonesia. In fact, it was not selected as the official foreign language for Indonesians. In the end, it is English that became the dominant foreign language for Indonesians. It is the first foreign languages selected to be taught in the school. And today, not only that it is becoming popular in the formal schooling system, as we will se in later chapters, it is also in the non formal schooling sectors.
Overall, we can draw a number of important points from this chapter. It was through the foreign powers that foreign languages were introduced to Indonesians and not its local people who introduced them. It is fact that the foreign languages were taught and learnt for economical, political, educational, and cultural reasons. Foreign language learning was also limited to certain groups of people and not available to all. We can also say that the reluctance the people had in learning foreign languages was based on their resentment towards the foreign powers. In other words, they wanted to learn a different foreign language in order to get rid another foreign language.
In general, to most Indonesians, learning a foreign language simply meant learning a third language apart from the common language—Malay which later on became Bahasa Indonesia. Finally, the process and experiences of learning different foreign languages throughout the history of colonialism have some how impacted the way Indonesians selected the first foreign languages to be taught formally in Indonesia. As a result, English was selected simply because it was not related to the colonial powers, and that it was considered to have an international stature. Nevertheless, when it was first selected, it also faced similar resistance from the general public.
In the next chapter we will see that despite of the constant challenges towards English teachings and its innovation in the curriculum since the early independence up to now, it is still a popular foreign language in Indonesia. There will be discussions on its ups and downs from its teaching history in the curriculum as the first foreign language up to its influence in recent years, and how it plays a crucial role in Indonesia today.
[1] Sanskrit is an ancient language of India, still used as a language of religion and scholarship, and the source of many Indian languages. Reader’s Digest (2001) Reader’s Digest Word Power Dictionary, Reader’s Digest Association Limited; London.
[2] Translation is mine.
[3] International economic organization created in a cooperative attempt to strengthen the economic and social development of the nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Officially the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in Asia and the Pacific, it came into force in 1951 as the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in South and Southeast Asia. There are 24 members and one provisional member, Mongolia. The original formulators of the plan were a group of seven Commonwealth nations; presently Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States are the largest donors. Assistance is given in the form of educational and health aid, training programs, loans, food supplies, equipment, and technical aid; arrangements for assistance are made directly between a donor and a recipient country. Originally conceived as lasting for a period of six years, the Colombo Plan was extended several times until 1980, when it was extended indefinitely. The organization's headquarters are in Colombo, Sri Lanka. "Colombo Plan." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.© 1994, 2000-2005, on Infoplease.© 2000–2005 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease.27 Mar. 2005
No comments:
Post a Comment