International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 170
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
Year of Establishment Private-Initiatives Universities
1949
Universitas Nasional Jakarta
1958
Universitas Muhammadiyah Dr Hamka, Jakarta
1961
Universitas Katolik Indonesian Atmajaya, Jakarta
1962
Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga, Central Java
1963
Universitas Kristen Petra, Surabaya, East Java
1964
Universitas Kristen Indonesia Tomohon, North Sulawesi
1965
Universitas Katolik Sanata Darma, Yogyakarta
Universitas Kristen Klabat, Manado
Total
8 English Departments in Private-Initiatives Universities
The success of establishing the English Departments in Indonesian universities instead of
other departments of European languages was also partly due to the program initiated by
America through the Ford Foundation. Sukarno and Indonesia was in position of being an
‘in-between’ nation in the Cold War between the capitalist pole and the communist pole.
1950 witnessed the emergence of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) as well. Sukarno
strove to unlearn western imperialism and stoked anti-western sentiment in the nation.
From 1950 until 1965, the Indonesians became the terrain of these two opposing foreign
influences with the internal tools of the nationalist sources. Sukarno’s regime was regarded
by the U.S as tending to the left wing, especially Sukarno’s ultra-nationalist vision for
education. Sadtono and Mistar reported that the teaching of English language had to be
terminated due to pressure from the communists.64 Thomas et al reported that “for political
protection, Mr. Soenardjo Haditjaroko, director of the Foreign Language Institute had to
state publicly that teachers should not compel their students to study English outside
classroom, though privately he fully supported such activity”.65 The result of this antiwestern policy was that English language programs declined in priority in the nation’s
educational policy.
Ford launched its effort to make Indonesia a modernizing country in 1954 with field
projects from MIT and Cornell countering the communist influences. The U.S power through
the Ford foundation had launched the establishment of English as the most important
foreign language to be taught in Indonesia’s universities and schools. Alongside the
‘spontaneous’ rise in influence of English after World War II, English teaching programs in
Indonesia were also supported explicitly by the U.S. After the Americans took control of the
64
65
Mistar, Op.Cit., 72-73 & Sadtono, Op. Cit., 10.
Thomas et al, Strategies for Curriculum Change, 316.
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