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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 April 2011
The development of the Indonesian national language has been exemplary. Unlike the creation of a national language in other developing countries, as in Malaysia, the Philippines, and India, the choice has not become a political issue. In Indonesia, no sector of society has sought to promote other local or foreign languages as the national language. In 1962, Takdir Alisjahbana outlined the initial development of Indonesian from Malay, the trade language of the archipelago from the first century AD. and the language of the Sriwijaya Empire (A.D. 700–1200) through the period of rising nationalism to independence. A few of the important steps in this process were: the declaration of Indonesian as the national language by the National Youth Congress in 1928; the flourishing of a national and a Chinese press from the 1920s onward, both of which used the Malay language; the promotion of literary works by the monthly journal, Pudjangga Baru, from 1933 onward; and the standardizing effect of the Indonesian Language Commission established in 1942. These events successfully established the first stage or emergence of the national language.
1 Alisjahbana, Takdir, Indonesian Language and Literature: Two Essays. (Cultural Report Series no. 11; New Haven, 1962), pp. 1–5.Google Scholar
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5 The field research was conducted in the district of Malang, East Java, during the years 1975–76 with financial support from the Social Science Research Council, Foreign Area Fellowship, and Fulbright Hays research grant number G00–75–Q1712. The final draft was written while holding Fulbright Hays research grant number 3004210. I am grateful to all those Indonesians who made this research possible, in particular the government research board, LIPI (Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia), the numerous informants who welcomed me into their homes, and my research assistants.
6 All of the national statistics come from the Bureau of Statistics Data Bank, 2nd ed. (Jakarta, 1976). City and regional statistics come from city and district office records and from Penyajian Data Potensi Desa [Report on the Potential of the Malang Villages] (Malang, 1971).
7 Low Javanese is the language used among equals, to children and in informal situations. High Javanese is the formal, polite language used to elders and higher status individuals. Often Javanese second language learners only learn low Javanese. Today even some of the Javanese youth are not learning completely the high Javanese language.
8 Fifty per cent of the films were in Indonesian, 30 per cent in Chinese, and 20 per cent were other foreign films. All foreign films used Indonesian subtitles. The Indonesian films were the most expensive costing the equivalent of one day's wages of a manual labourer.
9 In 1945 primary school students constituted. 3 per cent of the total country population. In 1970 primary school students were 1.1 per cent of the country population. Population figures are taken from Widjojo Nitisastro, Population Trends in Indonesia (Ithaca, 1970). Student population figures are from Pendidikan di Indonesia [Education in Indonesia] (Jakarta, 1975).
10 There were no housewives in the village since every able body in the village worked. Unemployment was very small; 1 per cent in the village and town and 4 per cent in the city. This is a very small percentage when one considers that the housewives are included in this figure.
11 Pendidikan di Indonesia.
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13 Alisjabhana, Indonesian Language, p. 23.
14 Although Indonesia has had compulsory education since 1945, many children are not able to attend school because of a lack of money or lack of room in the schools.
