Language Policy in Superdiverse Indonesia

Subhan Zein

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780429671074
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Historical & Comparative Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Indonesia has an extreme diversity of linguistic wealth, with 707 languages by one count, or 731 languages and more than 1, 100 dialects in another estimate, spoken by more than 600 ethnicities spread across 17, 504 islands in the archipelago. Smaller, locally used indigenous languages jostle for survival alongside Indonesian, which is the national language, regional lingua francas, major indigenous languages, heritage languages, sign languages and world languages such as English, Arabic and Mandarin, not to mention emerging linguistic varieties and practices of language mixing. How does the government manage these languages in different domains such as education, the media, the workplace and the public while balancing concerns over language endangerment and the need for participation in the global community?

Subhan Zein asserts that superdiversity is the key to understanding and assessing these intricate issues and their complicated, contested and innovative responses in the complex, dynamic and polycentric sociolinguistic situation in Indonesia that he conceptualises as superglossia. This offers an opportunity for us to delve more deeply into such a context through the language and superdiversity perspective that is in ascendancy.

Zein examines emerging themes that have been dominating language policy discourse including status, prestige, corpus, acquisition, cultivation, language shift and endangerment, revitalisation, linguistic genocide and imperialism, multilingual education, personnel policy, translanguaging, family language policy and global English. These topical areas are critically discussed in an integrated manner against Indonesia's elaborate socio-cultural, political and religious backdrop as well as the implementation of regional autonomy. In doing so, Zein identifies strategies for language policy to help inform scholarship and policymaking while providing a frame of reference for the adoption of the superdiversity perspective on polity-specific language policy in other parts of the world.

1 Introduction to language policy in superdiverse Indonesia

1.1. Introduction

This chapter aims to introduce the reader to the book. In this chapter, I provide an overview of Indonesia, introducing the reader to the country being covered in the book. In the second section of the chapter, I discuss language policy in superdiverse Indonesia. I cover the rationale and significance of the book, introduce the field of language policy and argue why a discussion on language policy needs to employ a superdiversity perspective. Finally, I outline the structure of the book, summarising its chapters.

1.2. Indonesia: an overview

Indonesia is located in Southeast Asia, neighbouring seven countries, namely Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore and Timor-Leste. The country is a string of islands stretching along the equator for 5,120 kilometres from west to east, equivalent to the distance from Ireland to the Caspian Sea in Europe, and measuring 1,760 kilometres from north to south (Frederick & Worden, 2011, p. 98). It has a total land area of 1,913,578.68 square kilometres (BPS, 2017); and with the inclusion of its territorial waters, it is a country with an area of 4,986,325 square kilometres (US Department of State, 2014). Indonesia is “the largest archipelagic nation in [the] world” (Frederick & Worden, 2011, p. xxxii), comprising a total of 17,504 islands (BPS, 2017) – the five largest being Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan (shared with Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam), Sulawesi and New Guinea (shared with Papua New Guinea) (see Map 1.1).

The country’s landscape is diverse, ranging from arid plains and snow-capped mountains to lush rain forests and steaming mangrove swamps. With “the largest” coastal surface area of any tropical country along a coastline stretching over 99,093 kilometres, Indonesia has “probably the world’s highest degree of marine biodiversity” (Lambertini, 2000, p. 79). According to Lambertini, fauna diversity in Indonesia comprises 1,531 species of birds, 511 species of reptiles, 515 species of mammals and 121 species of swallowtail butterflies – statistics placing the country in the world’s top four nations in fauna diversity (pp. 78–79). For example, Raja Ampat archipelago, near West Papua, is not only a highly popular diving destination but also home to 1,508 species of fish, 537 species of coral and 699 species of molluscs (Raja Ampat Biodiversity, 2018).

Map 1.1 Map of Indonesia

Source: Addicted04 (2018).

For centuries before it was known as “Indonesia”, the archipelago was ruled by many kingdoms. The two most powerful kingdoms were Srivijaya and Majapahit.

At its peak in the 9th and 10th centuries, Srivijaya ruled over much of Sumatra, all of the Malay peninsula and western Java; and it extended its influence to western Kalimantan, southern Sulawesi and present-day southern Thailand (Frederick & Worden, 2011, pp. 8–9; Rausa-Gomez, 1967, pp. 77–79). Continuing the language policy of its predecessor, the kingdom of Melayu, Srivijaya selected Malay as an official language. It used Malay with its trading partners, a process which then contributed to the emergence of its low variety, called Bazaar Malay, to become a lingua franca. Bazaar Malay was used for intergroup communication, connecting traders from Java and Sumatra with those from mainland Asia. It was spoken in harbours and bazaars in the archipelago as well as throughout Southeast Asia, often appearing in many regional varieties (cf. Adelaar & Prentice, 1996; Sneddon, 2003a; Tadmor, 2005).

Meanwhile, the Javanese kingdom Majapahit emerged in 1293; and after a series of attacks, it eventually conquered Srivijaya in 1377. The 14th-century Javanese text Nagarakretagama mentions that Majapahit reigned over a massive territory of Nusantara [in-between archipelago] – the traditional name for what later became known as “Indonesia”. The kingdom is said to have consisted of present-day Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, southern Thailand, Maluku, Sulu archipelago and East Timor (Cœdès, 1975; Cribb, 2013; Miksic, 1991; Rausa-Gomez, 1967; Wood, 2011). Although Majapahit’s trade influence was indeed extensive, little archaeological and anthropological evidence to support the claim makes “The Glory of Majapahit” appear to be more like a piece of fiction to boost the reputation of an otherwise modest Javanese monarch (Rausa-Gomez, 1967, pp. 90–94; Wood, 2011, pp. 36–37). Moreover, the fact that it was Bazaar Malay, rather than Javanese, that continued to be widely used as a lingua franca despite Majapahit’s so-called political hegemony makes it difficult to argue that Majapahit did rule extensively. Majapahit’s political authority might have been insufficient to impose a new language policy that would see Javanese flourish and replace Bazaar Malay.

Majapahit went into a state of decline in the 16th century, but the trading routes that developed during its reign persisted (Cribb, 2013, pp. 87–88). The routes connecting the archipelagos of Banda and Maluku as well as the islands of Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan allowed for the trade of quality nutmeg, cloves and black pepper, involving the likes of the Portuguese, Spanish, British and Dutch. Initially arriving as traders who wanted to benefit from the remarkable commercial boom of these products in Europe, they eventually developed a strong political authority over the natives. Nusantara’s history was then marked by long political occupation, starting from the 16th century. The Dutch predominantly subjugated a great majority of the territory, which they called “the Dutch East Indies”, locally known as Hindia Belanda (Frederick & Worden, 2011, pp. 19–41).

But the name preferred by the nation’s founding fathers was “Indonesia”. Jones (1973) explains that this term was originally written “Indu-nesians” in an article by English ethnologist George Windsor Earl in 1850, drawn from Greek words “indus” and “nèsos” to mean “Indian islands”. A few scholars such as Scottish lawyer James Richardson Logan and German ethnographer Adolf Bastian helped popularise the term, writing it as “Indonesia”. The term finally found “an ardent champion in the nationalist leader Mohammad Hatta”, who adopted it as the name of the people’s motherland and helped spread its use among national activists working for the nation’s independence (Jones, 1973, p. 115).

The Dutch colonisation of Indonesia lasted until Japan’s occupation of the archipelago in 1942. Years of a Nationalist Movement involving the political activism of youth organisations such as Boedi Oetomo (established in 1908), Jong Java (1915), Jong Sumatranen Bond (1917) and Sarekat Islam (1912) reached a culminating point on Friday, 17 August 1945, when Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta unilaterally proclaimed independence. They named the new nation “Republic of Indonesia” and established Djakarta (later spelt Jakarta) as the capital. Following the proposition made in the 1928 Sumpah Pemuda [Youth Pledge], the newly formed Indonesian parliament also established Bahasa Indonesia [Indonesian], which has its linguistic base on the Riau dialect of Malay, as the national language. Furthermore, the Pancasila was chosen as the State ideology. The Pancasila is a nationalist creed based on five interrelated principles: (1) Belief in one supreme God; (2) Just and civilised humanitarianism; (3) Unity of Indonesia; (4) Democracy led by the wisdom of the representatives of the people; (5) Social justice for all Indonesians (Figure 1.1). The national motto of Indonesia is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, Old Javanese for “Unity in Diversity”. It is a recognition of the fact that the nation comprises highly diverse ethnolinguistic and religious groups.

Under the leadership of its charismatic president, Soekarno, Indonesia was politically active. It held the first Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, West Java, in 1955, and it became one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement that aimed to steer clear of entanglement in the Cold War involving the United States and the Soviet Union. Despite this, years of economic crisis, social unrest and political instability marred Soekarno’s leadership. His politics of Demokrasi Terpimpin[Guided Democracy] failed and his administration went awry following the 1965 coup d’état for which the Partai Komunis Indonesia [Indonesian Communist Party] (PKI) was alleged to be responsible. Transition in political leadership on 12 March 1967 saw the rise of a new power: Orde Baru [New Order], led by President Soeharto. The former general led Indonesia to establish the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) that now also comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. Holding power for more than three decades, Soeharto masterminded Indonesia’s politics, economy and social life. He was an astute national administrator, who devoted time and effort to national development, earning him the title of Bapak Pembangunan [Father of Development]. But his centralistic governance and military style of political leadership were heavily criticised, as were the rampant corruption and cronyism that endemically enmeshed his administration. When Indonesia was severely struck by economic crisis in 1997–1998, demonstrations against Soeharto were widespread. Consequently, he resigned on 21 May 1998. The collapse of the New Order marked the beginning of a new Indonesia.

Figure 1.1 Indonesia’s State Ideology, the Pancasila, is shown in the national emblem of the Garuda

Source: Kartapranata (2018a).

Post–New Order Indonesia, often called the Reform Era, started in 1998 and continues to the present day. It began with political leadership being passed on to Soeharto’s successor, Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, who governed until 1999. His successor was Abdurrahman Wahid, colloquially known as Gus Dur. Known for a flamboyant political leadership that was distinctively marked by efforts to enliven Indonesia’s national motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, President Wahid only reigned for less than two years. In 2001, Indonesia was governed by a female president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Indonesia’s first president Soekarno. In 2004, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, commonly referred to by his initials SBY, became Indonesia’s first democratically elected president. Walking in the footpaths of Habibie and Sukarnoputri before him, Yudhoyono embraced the spirit of decentralisation that first triggered the Reform Movement of 1998. Accordingly, Indonesia has undergone major administrative restructuring, known as pemekaran. The country’s administration now consists of 34 provinsi [provinces], 416 kabupaten [regencies], 98 kota [cities] and 7,217 kecamatan [districts]. Indonesia also consists of 83,344 desa, kelurahan and Unit Pemukiman Transmigrasi (UPT) – these refer to suburb or village-level units (BPS, 2018a). These administrative structures can now implement decentralisation of governance, as opposed to the centralised governance characterising the New Order.

At the time of writing, Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, is the incumbent president. Democratically elected for the first time in 2014, President Widodo is now serving a second term (2019–2024) in a government that focuses on infrastructure, economic development and character building. His tax amnesty bill, which brings in approximately Rp. 4,865 trillion (approximately US$366 billion) of undeclared tax assets, is “the most successful” programme of its kind in history. However, not all have joined the programme, meaning tax evasion is still widespread in the country (Indonesia Investments, 2017).

As a nation, Indonesia is a modern idea whose independence is associated with uprisings on the one hand and patterns of exploitation, lost lives and squandered opportunities on the other (Taylor, 2003; Vickers, 2013). The rebellions of Kartosuwiryo and Daud Beureu’eh; the alleged coup d’état of the PKI that resulted in Soekarno’s eventual dethroning; the ongoing factional disputes involving various political interests; the sense of betrayal felt by the Timorese resulting in their disintegration from Indonesia; the repressive treatment of the Papuans, which is spiced with economic jealousy towards migrants from Java and Madura; the unresolved case of Penembakan Misterius [Mysterious Shootings] (Petrus); suppression of the press that resulted in the disbandment of Tempo, Editor and DeTIK as well as human rights abuse against journalists; human rights violations relating to separatist movements and religious discriminations; and ugly scenes of religiously motivated terrorist attacks such as the Bali bombing of 2002 and the more recent Surabayan church bombing of May 2018 – these are among the few problems demonstrating the struggle of Indonesians in finding ways of order to coexist in harmony, justice and prosperity.

Figure 1.2 Indonesian presidents from 1945 to 2001. In order: Soekarno (1945–1967), Soeharto (1967–1998), Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (1998–1999), Abdurrahman Wahid (1999–2001)

Source: Wikimedia Commons (2018a).

Figure 1.3 Indonesian presidents from 2001 to present. In order: Megawati Sukarnoputri (2001–2004), Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2004–2014) and Joko Widodo (2014–present)

Source: Wikimedia Commons (2018a).

Indonesia is also “a nation in fragments” where “the ubiquity of patronage distribution as a means of cementing political affiliations” often overlaps with “the broader neoliberal model of economic, social, and cultural life in which patronage distribution is increasingly embedded” (Aspinall, 2013, p. 27). Such fragmentation often results in poor management of the nation’s resources and misappropriation of government funds – both contributing to Indonesia’s consistent reputation as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Indonesia’s notoriety for corruption reached its apex during the New Order regime (1967–1998), but the country’s performance in eradicating corruption has improved in recent years, reaching an all-time high in 2018, scoring 38 out of 100 (Chart 1.1).

Indonesia is the most populous among the ten ASEAN member states and the fourth most populous nation in the world. The latest National Census reveals that Indonesia’s population was 236,728,379 in 2010 (BPS, 2011), but statistics as of 1 July 2019 show the population has reached 269,538,028 (Worldometers, 2019). Indonesia is also home to the world’s largest Muslim population (approximately 87.18 per cent of Indonesians are Muslims) (BPS, 2011). But the country also has a reasonable portion of the population embracing Buddhism, Catholicism, Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, Protestantism and Sikhism. This is not to mention several local beliefs such as Kaharingan of the Dayaks, Subud of the Javanese, Sunda Wiwitan of the Baduys, Aluk To Dolo of the Torajans and Wetu Telu found among the Sasaks. A nation consisting of more than 600 ethnic groups spread across the archipelago (BPS, 2011), Indonesia undoubtedly has highly diverse cultures. Owing to a geographical area divided by mountains and seas, highlands and lowlands, cultural development within the country has not taken place in the same way or at the same rate; and there is a vast difference between the cultures found in Java and those in Kalimantan or the remote islands in Maluku.

Chart 1.1 Indonesia’s Corruption Index

Source: Trading Economics (2019).

Despite the religious, cultural and ethnic differences, Indonesia’s overall social climate is relatively stable, if not harmonious. The nation has maintained peace in most periods of its history, with its people’s convivial relationships best summed up in the national motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. It is not surprising that Indonesia has continuously maintained a strong political presence in the ASEAN region. Its political developments have provided what Rattanasevee (2014) calls “a vital ingredient in building up confidence and credibility as well as enhancing the pursuit of leadership in ASEAN” (p. 125). Such a leadership role is expected from a country that is currently buoyed by a large number of young population that substantially constitutes its growing workforce (Chart 1.2).

The importance of Indonesia is not only evident within the ASEAN region but is also perceived by close neighbours such as Australia. Calling Indonesia “a rising regional neighbour in increasing importance”, former Australian ambassador to Indonesia Richard Woolcott (2018) states that Australia’s “relationship with Indonesia is more important to us than Indonesia’s relationship with Australia is to Indonesia” (p. 16). This is probably not an overstatement, as Indonesia’s steady economic development and encouraging youth workforce have provided elements for the nation’s promising economic trajectory. PricewaterhouseCoopers (2015) has predicted that Indonesia will become the world’s fifth largest economy by 2030 and the fourth by 2050.

Chart 1.2 Indonesia’s population pyramid (2019)

Source: Population Pyramid (2019).

Overall, this overview sets the background for this book that aims to discuss the complexity of language policy in Indonesia.

1.3. Language policy in superdiverse Indonesia

In this section, I discuss the rationale and significance of the book. I also introduce the field of language policy. Then, I discuss why superdi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Figures
• Charts
• Maps
• Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Notes about the book
• 1 Introduction to language policy in superdiverse Indonesia
• 2 Linguistic ecology and language policy
• 3 Status planning
• 4 Corpus planning
• 5 Revitalisation planning
• 6 Language-in-education policy
• 7 Conclusion
• References
• Index