The Invention of Lingua Franca

8/11/2019 The Invention of Lingua Franca

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The Invention of Li ngua Franca, Indonesian Nationalist Movement

Abdul dubbun Hakim, Director of Center for Islam and State Studies Indonesia

In the colonial period, Indonesian founding fathers faced the problem in communicating

revolutionary ideas to reach wider audience in such highly diverse ethnics and cultures likeIndonesia. During the colonial period, they found that Dutch was a language of small minorities

of educated elites as an impact of discrimination of education policy toward Indonesian

indigenous people. This politics of segregation resulting in privileged indigenous elites whichcommunicate each other through colonial language as well as the official language in education

system under colonial rule. Moreover, Javanese is the language of the largest ethnic group in

Indonesia which represented 47% of Indonesias population. However, Javanese is inhibited by

the hierarchy which reflected the social status within the society. The hierarchy of Javanese incommunication according to social status and age will makes language difficult for the people

who live in the outer island to learn. Eventually, Indonesian founding fathers chose Malay

language as a lingua francain the archipelago that was effective as the unifying force which has

great impact to the nationalist movement in fighting against the colonial rule and the formationof a new national identity (Alisjahbana 1949; Anderson 1966; Leng 1980).

First, this essay will examine the reason behind the successful story of Indonesian

language or Bahasa as the lingua franca of nationalist movement in the colonial period and

postcolonial period which contributed to the effort of national integration and nation building. Italso will examines the socio-political factors as well as the historical factors in the development

of Bahasa Indonesia as lingua francain Indonesia since the colonial period. Second, this paper

will examine the role of national language policy in the process of the nation building in the

postcolonial period. After the independence,Bahasabecome the official language in the field ofeducation, politics, culture, economics, and religion. The successful policy of national language

was mainly supported by increasing of proficiency among Indonesian people through the openaccess of education both in Java and outer islands, media, and urbanization.

In this essay, I argue that Indonesian founding fathers chose Malay as the medium in

communicating the revolutionary ideas during the colonial period as it is well known became the

lingua francaof the archipelago which characterized by flexibility, simplicity, possible as inter-ethnic language, and free from hierarchy of social status. It also reflected the aspiration of

nationalism advocated by Indonesian founding fathers which has strong appeal to modernity,

democratic order and egalitarianism.

Nationalist Movement and Colonialism

National movement involved multidimensional and complexity process including

economics, politics, and cultural factors. In this respect, like many Southeast Asian countries,

Indonesian nationalism had rooted in the anti-colonialism as its primary historical basis and mainingredient. Thus, national movement has strong relation with the collective consciousness of

colonized people which concentrated its collective activity on self-defence and efforts to change


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this situation resulted in national consciousness, nationalfeeling as well as national will which

expressed in various ways (Kartodirdjo 1962: 70). However, in early nineteenth century

Indonesia, the idea of nationalism always understood as an adjective to the particular-regionalmovement such as Javanese nationalism, Ambonese nationalism, and Sumatranese nationalism.

The beginning of Indonesian national movement usually refers to the period from 1908s up to

1942s.

The early history of Indonesian national movement characterized by particular

aspirations which rooted in the various ethnics and local political movements such as SarekatAmbon (Ambon Union), Rukun Minahasa (Minahasa Family), Pasoendan, and Sarekat Sumatra

(Sumatra Union). Thus, the regional and ethnocentric aspiration was main feature of early

Indonesian nationalism including Boedi Oetomo which established in 1908s expressed the

aspiration of Javanese nationalism. Although Boedi Oteomo expressed the cultural aspiration ofJavanese its main character was inclusive and opens for the cooperation with other organizations

in fighting against the colonial domination. In this stage, each group within national movement

remains expressed its own cultural interest as the counter-culture of the West. In this respect, it

commonly understood that since early stage of national movement most groups and localorganizations expressed their movement as the cultural struggle (Kartodirdjo 1962: 77).

However, although the early stage of Indonesian national movement has its root in the

vernacular aspirations such as ethnic and regional organizations, Indonesian nationalism is not

ethnic nationalism. These ethnic organizations characterized by the greater enthusiasm toward

civic nationalism which unifying ethnic diversities and recognized that all within the bordersare equally members of nation. Island states like Indonesia....congenial to this type of territorial

nationalism by reason of having boundaries seemingly demarcated by nature, not by the

ambivalent destiny of a people (Reid 2001: 296) . In contrast, Indonesian nationalist movementdid not supported by the ethnic core to survive. The cultural struggle in establishing set of central

symbols such historical myth, national dress and style, name, and language became central

around the imagination of nationalists movement rather than inventing a dominant ethnic as the

core of nationalism. This nationalism defined by the shared collective memory of colonization,territory, and common identity.

In this respect, Indonesian founding fathers were successfully transformed the centraldilemma between ethnic nationalism and core culture nationalism which integrated highly

ethnic diversities into equal citizenship inside a new nation. The civic idea of Indonesian

nationalism which transgresses the local and ethnic boundaries supported by the fact that coreculture defined nationalism seemed to be inherently plural in religion, culture, and ethnicity, in

way analogous to that India, if not Western Europe (Reid 2001: 311) . In this respect, the core

culture of Indonesian nationalism is deeply rooted in Malayness which signify a set of cultural

complex centered in language called Melayu. Malayness is source of diverse Indonesianmodern identities. Malayness also contributed significantly tothe creation of Indonesian a new

national identity and core of national project. It was unavoidable that Malay adopted as the

unifying language among the youth nationalist movement in the early twentieth centuryIndonesia.


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Malay language was well known as the lingua franca among the traders in the

archipelago for more than a thousand years. This language also associated with the maritime

trade in the straits of Malacca priot to the period of colonialism. The people who lived inextensive areas from Aceh to Patani in Southern Thailand need single common language as the

vehicle of communication which functioned not only among the natives in the archipelago but

also the foreign traders who come to these island in celebrating the commerce in Southeast Asia(Lowenberg 1985; Paauw 2009).

The establishment of Malay as official language during Sriwijaya empire had great impactin spreading Malay as solely lingua franca which conquered including Malay peninsula, all

Sumatra, West and Central Java. Sriwijaya also had strong diplomatic relation with both China

and India for hundred years which reflected in many ancient inscriptions in widespread locations

in form of stone monument which found in Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, and Java. In the aftermath,the decline of Sriwijaya continued by the rise of Muslim sultanate in straits of Malacca. Then,

Malay used as means of Islamic expansion across the archipelago who traced the trade routes

and influenced the establishment of Malay as a vehicle for the propagation of Islamic religion

(Paauw 2009: 2).

In the early twentieth century, Dutch introduced a new policy on education whichpermitted numerous Indonesians to study in the Dutch schools. This policy enhanced many

Indonesians to reach proficiency in Dutch language which understood as the direct way in

increasing their skill, knowledge and social status. On the other hand, the increasing number of

Indonesians in attaining the Dutch proficiency perceived as threat to the colonial rule. Thecolonial government released the policy that limited the use of Dutch language among

Indonesian. This limitation recommended by the Hollandsch Inlandsch Onderwijscommissie

(Dutch Indonesian Educational Commission) which established to control the use of Dutchlanguage by Indonesian (Alisjahbana 1949).

Although Dutch restricted the spread of Dutch language among indigenous people, theDutch remained the official language during the colonial period. More over, Dutch sought that

Malay also useful for the language of administration and commerce as it is used by various

ethnic in the archipelago. By the end of nineteenth century, Dutch reformed their language policy

by introducing Malay as second official language which functioned as the language of localadministration, commerce and communication. Dutch changed their policy by the end of

nineteenth century which ..attempting to produce a standardized high variety of the language

for administrative purposes to replace what they called the babble-Malay of many officials(Keane 2003: 513). Dutch also perceived Malay is not complex language, flexible and ease to

communication. Since then, Malay practiced in the non-European schools particularly schools

that provided for indigenous people (Lowenberg 1985).

On the other hand, the Dutch contributed to the process of standardization and

modernization of Malay through the registration of Malay which used in many areas such as the

standard Latin-alphabet spelling system. Dutch also established a Malaya-language publishinghouse which provided the materials on many topics for learning standard Malay in the schools

and supported the publication of Malay press in the beginning of the twentieth century. This

policy results in the emergence of a group of intellectual who educated in Dutch school but


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without real function within the colonial structure. Their proficiency in Dutch language opened

their intellectual journey and intellectual encounter with the foreign literature which contained

the critical concept of society and a vision on the ideal society after the disappearance ofcolonialism. This new group of intellectual reached the necessary means of communication in

exploring the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist literature of West European, Russian Marxism,

and the revolutionary vocabularies among those potential elite (Anderson 1966; Maier 2005).

The emergence of nationalist movement increased the need for unifying language in

order to mobilize the people against the colonial rule within this pluralistic society. They soughtthat Malay is the most effective language of communication in revitalizing the idea of

independence and organizing the program of political education which almost impossible if

relied on the regional languages. Malay language had been sought as the sole effective lingua

francaamong the hundreds of ethnic languages which for ages used as the language of trade andcommerce in Southeast Asia (Emerson 1960). Then it was not surprising that big political parties

in the early twentieth century both Partai Komunis Indonesia(Indonesia Communist Party) and

Serikat Islam(Muslim League) adopted Malay as the official language for their communication

within respective organization. The adoption of Malay language by nationalist movement drivenby, the government policy of limiting their opportunities to study Dutch had the effect of

deflecting them to the use of Malay instead. (Alisjahbana 1949:389)

In term of ethnic language, Javanese is an ethnic language which practiced by vast

majority of population. However, the hierarchy of social status inhibited the Javanese language

which makes it impossible to reach the status of lingua franca among nationalists movementwho appeal for the equality and political emancipation. More over, the adoption of Javanese

could be associated with the largest and most powerful ethnic group and its use could therefore

lead to dissension and mistrust from non-Javanese (Lowenberg 1985:8). Thus Javanese hadbeen sought not at all suited in articulating the ideas of equality, democratic rights, and

independence as expressed in the revolutionary rhetoric among the nationalists movement. In

contrast, Malay expressed what Anderson stated as simple and flexible enough to be rapidly

developed into a modern political language..had ipso facto an almost statusless character, likeEsperanto..It has thus free, almost democratic character from the outset (Anderson 1966: 104).

Thus in the early twentieth century, the nationalist movement tried to promote Malay asthe official national language which culminated in the Second Congress of youth on October 28,

1928. The Second Congress declared that Malay as the official language which later became

Bahasa Indonesia. The choice of Malay as bahasa Indonesia mostly accepted and had not anyrival although the members of Congress consisted of many ethnic association such as Jong Java

(1915), Jong Sumatranen Bond (1917), Jong Ambon (1920), and Jong Celebes (1920). The

Congress proclaimed that they, belong to one nation Indonesia; belong to one people, ..uphold

the nations language of unity, Indonesian (Dardjowijojo 1998: 3). In addition, the agreementamong ethnic associations to put Malay as official national language reflected the spirits of their

nationalism which sought that national interest was above each particular interest (Wong 1971;

Dardjowijojo 1998).

In the aftermath, the declaration of Malay as national language also supported by the

publication of cultural and literary magazine Pudjangga Baru (The New Poet), which had


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contributed significantly to the development of Indonesian literary tradition. The exponents of

Pudjangga Baru also held the congress in Solo 1938 which focused on the development of

Indonesian language (Alisjahbana 1949). This development suggested by Lowenberg as thebeginning of the development of a genre anti-colonialist writing practiced by a new generation of

young educated writer from Central and Northern Sumatra. This a new educated-generation also

expressed, varieties of Malay spoken on the west coast of Malay Peninsula, became thestandard literary language for Indonesia and is still considered the standard model for educationand formal occasions. (Lowenberg 1985: 10).

The occupation of German over the Netherlands in the 1939s dramatically changed the

Dutch policy in the Indies, they felt cut of from their own country and sought that their

relationship with Indonesia and Indonesians were very artificial. Thus, Dutch endorsed the policy

in using the Indonesian language among themselves. However, Dutch suffered from the comingof Japanese soldier into the region which results in the end of their new policy and Dutch rapidly

moved from Indonesia. The coming of Japanese who replaced the Dutch occupation in Indonesia

was the decisive moment in the development of Indonesian language particularly as it is spread

widely among the mass. Unlike Dutch, Japanese encouraged the use of Indonesian language asmeans of communication although their long term goal imposed the Japanese language as the

main official language. Unfortunately, they considered that it hard to apply a new policy in shorttime, Japanese had to take the pragmatic decision that Indonesian language much more effectivethan using Japanese one (Alisjahbana 1949; Anderson 1966).

The Japanese policy brought about significant progress to the development of Indonesianlanguage. Japanese prohibited the use of Dutch as means of communication. Indonesian

language was the compulsory in the public laws and official pronouncements, correspondence

between the department of government, between government and people as well as in all level ofeducational institution from the primary schools up to the university. On the other hand, Japanese

mobilized the mass in supporting the war effort which reached the people in remote areas of the

islands. Inevitably, political mobilization over the mass in the villages to support the Japanese

war effort in the region involved the Indonesian language as the main instrument ofcommunication (Alisjahbana 1949: Anderson 1966).

Under the Japanese occupation, the Indonesian language developed across thearchipelago which enhanced the people to learn and speak it in public sphere freely. In this

respect, the Indonesian language reached it peak during the colonial time as the symbol of

national identity and increased the common bond among the people. In this period, Japaneseestablished join commission with both Japanese and Indonesian members in order to

standardized Indonesian language, developed its lexicon, released a new grammar text, and

registered new developed vocabularies. This commission had registered around 7000 new terms

which had been adopted into Indonesian language. Thus, Japanese language policy had beenestablished the dramatic changed in modernization and standardization of language to function as

the official language in the government, law, all level of education and technology as well

(Lowenberg 1985).


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The Policy of National Language

After the independence and the surrender of Japanese, Indonesian government had beenestablished the status of Indonesian language as solely official language in a new nation. On the

other hand, its status will not threaten the existence of vernacular languages which had been

protected by the constitution. In addition, vernacular languages have been contributed to thedevelopment of Indonesian language. Thus, mutual-enrichment processes took place between

vernacular languages and national language supported by fact that most the nationalist writers

and poets came from the particular region in Sumatra such as Riau and Minangkabau. In theaftermath, other vernacular languages such Sundanese, Javanese, and the dialect of Jakarta have

significant influence in the development of Indonesian language (Anderson 1966; Paauw 2009).

After independence, Indonesian language mostly has dual function in society both as thenational identity which constituted Indonesia as a new nation and also as the official language in

educational institution in all level, literacy, modernization, and social mobility. In the 1948,

Indonesian government had establishedBalai Bahasa(Language Center) in order to develop the

national language and vernacular languages throughout the nation. Then, later, it had beenchanged and well known as theLembaga Bahasa dan Budaya(Institute of Language and Culture)

in 1952. Under Sultan Takdir Alisjahbana, the Komisi Istilah (Committee on Terminology) ofthe institute documented 321, 710 new terms which had been adopted officially into Indonesian

languages (Djardjowijojo 1998; Paauw 2009).

The numbers of people who speak bahasaincreased rapidly along with its widespread as

the official language across the nation. The census data showed it has been increased rapidly

particularly after the independence. The data showed that in the 1971 census, around 40 million

Indonesians, or estimated 40% of population had reported could practice Indonesian language. Adecade later, it increased over around 90 million people or estimated 60% of the population. The

successful of Indonesian language as the official language mostly credited to the role ofIndonesian language in the educational institution, particularly when Indonesian languagebecame compulsory language in all primary schools in the country (Lowenberg 1985;

Djardjowijojo 1998; Paauw 2009).

In contrast, the role of highest education particularly university level remains lowercompare to the role of primary and secondary school in developing Indonesian language as

lingua franca in academic world. This weakness primarily rooted in the fact that almost the texts

used in the university level remain in the foreign languages especially English language. Thelack of academic references in Indonesian language could deteriorate the quality of research and

academic life in Indonesia which also handicap for the progress of Indonesian people in facing

the modern world (Montalu & Suryadinata 2007; Paauw 2009).

In addition, lack of academic material reading in bahasa will influence the future

development of Indonesian language. After independence, the lexicon of intellectual life inIndonesia remains foreign languages. The availability of reading materials in Indonesian

language perceived as the necessary requirement in developing the intellectual life of modern

Indonesia. In this respect, Alisjahbana supported the effort of translation academic reading

materials into Indonesian as the way in fulfilling, its functions as the unifying and official


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language, it is essential that great many important books be translated into Indonesian

(Alisjahbana 1949: 392). On the other hand, this process must be supported by the increasing

consciousness of Indonesian people to learn how to express and think fluently in their nationallanguage so that the development of Indonesian intellectual life relied on their own language

rather than foreign language as it happen in the present day Indonesian universities (Alisjahbana

1949).

Moreover, urbanization is the second factor in the increasing use of Indonesian

language. The economic development brought about the migration of millions people fromvillages to many cities. The number of inhabitants in the big cities grew rapidly which consist of

different cultural backgrounds. Inevitably, it has great impact in the increasing proficiency of

Indonesian language as it is the means of inter-ethnic communication in new neighborhood, at

work and in the market place. The third factor that contributed to the proficiency of Indonesianlanguage is media; broadcast, television, and printed media. Most national radio, national

televisions and national newspapers are using national language in transmitting the information

throughout the country. The booming of visual media particularly television which most of

people across country can access the program on national television contributed to the increasedproficiency of Indonesian language even in the remotest backwaters villages in outer island of

Java (Lowenberg 1985; Paauw 2009).

However, Indonesia faced the pressure from the English. The rise of new middle class

in many big cities as the impact of economic development under New Order state (1968-1998)

also empowered them to access the outside world through globalization. One of main problem inthe face of global pressure which affected the development of Indonesian language is the lack of

vocabulary. Inevitably, this handicap caused by, ..fact that the Indonesian language is an

extension or adaptation of Malay language inasmuch as it has been modified regional languagesand dialect as well as by modern foreign languages(Alisjahbana 1949: 340).

Indonesian language suffered from the lack of vocabulary particularly in adapting newtechnical terms along with the consumption of modern technology such as multimedia. In this

respect, Indonesian now has many foreign words which borrowed and adapted from English such

as komputer, handpone, telepon, listrik, indeks,which directly adapted from English language. In

addition, government released the policy in the 1990s that allowed the teaching bilinguallanguage in the private schools. This policy created the new educated class which have

proficiency in English and have advantage in the market (Djardjowijojo 1998; Paauw 2009).

Pusat Bahasa produced weekly television series lectures and courses in order to

consolidate the status of Indonesian as the national language. It also provides information

through online service to the people and supported the research on both Indonesian and regionallanguages. Moreover, Pusat Bahasa also have been established close cooperation with

international agencies such as Ford Foundation, Multinational companies, The National Law

Council, and Language Development Project in promoting the status of Indonesian as the

national language. It also involved the regional cooperation with Malaysia, and BruneiDarussalam, where members of joint committee meet regularly to discuss language matters of

common interest. (Djardjowijojo 1998: 43; Montalu & Suryadinata 2007).


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Conclusion

The development of Indonesian language which began from early twentieth century

expressed the aspiration of nationalist movement and their struggle in achieving the freedom andequality against the colonial rule. In addition, the basic idea of Indonesian nationalism has its

root in the core culture model which transgresses the boundaries of ethnicities within new

independent nation. The Malayness was salient core culture as well as the source of Indonesianmodern identity. Thus, the nationalist movement also articulated the struggle of culture to create

new national symbol, myth, and identity in particular the invention of lingua franca which

unite varieties of ethnicities and driving force in articulating the ideas of nationalism.

The Dutch policy on language which limited the proficiency of Dutch language in very

small group of Indonesian elites during the colonial rule has contributed to the flourishingIndonesian language as the national language as well as the language of literature. Moreover,

Dutch also established the commission that results in the modernization and standardization ofMalay as official language in educational institution which provided for the indigenous people.

After independence, the widespread acceptance of Indonesian language as national

language supported by national policy that bahasa is the official language in the educational

institution, government, law, economics, culture and politics. Moreover, promotion ofIndonesian language mostly credited to the role of bahasa in education system, printed media,

broadcast, televisions and urbanization. However, the main handicap of Indonesian language is

lack of vocabulary as it is intermixture of Malay, vernacular languages, and foreign languages.The pressure of foreign language particularly the global English confirmed the argument that

Indonesian language need an adjustment and adapting the new term along with the coming

industrial technology and revolution of multimedia. This adjustment will enrich the developmentof Indonesian language as a proper medium expression of modern life.

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The Invention of Lingua Franca