International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 183

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
Conclusion
The previous brief sketch of the arrival of European languages to Indonesia raised the
spectre of the dominant roles of Dutch colonization in introducing English language into the
Indonesian education system as early as the twentieth century before World War II broke
out. The dominant role being played by Bahasa Indonesia was gained through two main
movements, the anti-Dutch movement which led to the Sovereignty of Indonesia as a state
and through the banning of Dutch and other European teaching by the Japanese colonizer,
subsequently followed in the era of the Sukarno presidency. The power of Bahasa Indonesia,
which formerly was only spoken by seven percent of Indonesian people in Riau Sumatera,
was supported by its position as a constant ‘melting pot’ during its formative period in
which Sanskrit, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch, and English become main sources of vocabularies
via their loan words. The Latin transliteration system being introduced by the Portuguese
was then adopted into the formation of Low-Malaya language into Bahasa Indonesia. Such
objective support from the many interfaces other languages rejoice in laid the basic unity of
Indonesia as a multi-ethnic nation. Javanese which was spoken by the majority of
Indonesian was not adopted. Bahasa Indonesia increasingly played a significant role in the
formation of symbolic nationalism and the discourse of identity in Indonesia. To most of
Indonesian people, their first language will be their respective dialects, and the second
language will be Bahasa Indonesia, and their foreign language will most likely be English.
The development of English language teaching in Indonesia has always experienced
its ‘ups and downs’. First it was introduced by the private initiative of the short English
interregnum (1811-1816) and then by the colonial Dutch government with the onset of the
Ethical Policy in 1930s. The education policy, however, was elitist in which the schools only
accepted noble ranks, Chinese people and those who had converted to Christianity. The
teaching of four European languages, Dutch, German, French, and English could only be
accessed by the upper class. The popular education was then advocated by two main other
institutions, the nationalists and the modern Islamists as proposed by Ahmad Dahlan in
Muhammadiyah. The two types of institutions were considered “wild schools” (by the Dutch)
and barely copied Dutch (Western) education system with additional Islamic teaching for
Muhammadiyah. Almost all of the education system which now prevails in Indonesia was
formerly adopted from the Dutch system. Muhammadiyah schools and universities also
adopted the teaching of English into their curriculum. Although English language teaching
declined during the Japanese colonial era and Sukarno era, it then gained a stronghold
during the Suharto era when he adopted a free market system into the Indonesian economy
through its apparent policy toward the adoption of English as the only foreign language to
be taught in schools and universities.
The major support of the teaching of English in Indonesia was mainly initiated by
three major factors: (1) Government’s positive attitude toward English language due to the
adoption of a capitalistic economy; (2) private initiatives promoted by (a) western-educated
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