Globalization of Language in Indonesia

English language is a primary factor to access the global world and grasp the international managing which occurs under the term globalization. Globalization is defined as a phenomenon where there is a developing and integrating important aspects of humans’ life in a country that is influenced or brought by other countries. Globalization is when “all those processes by which the peoples of the world are incorporated into a single society, global society” (Albrow, 1990: 9). Those aspects which are part as globalization impact are economy, social, entertainment, technology, infrastructure, education and culture. Indonesia as the biggest country in Southeast Asia is a strategic melting point where all the globalization aspects are experienced by the people of Indonesia. This paper will discuss about language which is categorized as cultural aspect as part of globalization impact in Indonesia. There will be a further explanation about Bahasa Indonesia cultural background as well as the emerging of Western culture that result in the globalization of English to Indonesia.

To quote from Global Sociology website, cultural globalization is defined as the extensiveness, intensiveness, velocity and impact of cultural flows- a transmission of symbols, ideas, artistic, and consumption products-on a global scale. There are three trends in cultural globalization which are cultural globalization as sameness, cultural globalization as particularism, and cultural globalization as hybridity.

Cultural globalization as sameness refers to a harmony and homogenous culture as a product of globalization. Example of this trend is that the biggest culture influence is American who spreads its cultural values in consumption. The channel in which this cultural value is transmitted is by technology and media. American spreads this idea of living globally which influence the hyper-capitalist lifestyle and this becomes a homogenous culture in other countries as well.

The second trend, cultural globalization as particularism describes how one culture is dominated and undermined by a new emerging power. An extreme example of this trend is the riots in 1998 in Indonesia under the late president Suharto’s era. The Chinese immigrants who had settled down in Indonesia and had all the legal rights to be Indonesian citizens were the majority of the target of the riots. The new independent country was not familiar yet with the term globalization as many of Indonesians still beheld a strong value on nationalism. Therefore, the culture emergence of the Chinese and indigenous Indonesian resulted in a riots due to imbalance power and respects for other culture.

Culture globalization as hybridity trend is a theory that attempts to describe an emergence and a blending of different culture that result in multiculturism. This phenomenon mostly uses English as the universal language spoken between the culture as the use of English also implies that the culture is civilized and globalized. There was an English test conducted by English First the English company for two million participants from different countries. The result shows that participants from wealthier country did better on the test such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Some countries that did quite poorly were Thailand, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Colombia. China and India who are considered big and influent al to the world’s economy were ranked 29^th and 30^th out of 44 countries consecutively. The two are now competing on each other in other sectors of globalization but the similarity of them is that both countries emphasize on the use of English but they do not permanently abandon their native language. 

One of the most obvious aspects of globalization is the cultural factor. Indonesia that consists of variety of culture diversity is suppressed to have a universal language that unites the country despite having different cultural background. As it was stated in one of the points in Sumpah Pemuda in the year of 1928 that says Bahasa Indonesia is the language that unites all the diversity of culture and it was proclaimed as the national language of Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia serves function as the icon of national identity as well as the medium to communicate among one another having the fact that Indonesia has plenty of dialects. Therefore, Bahasa Indonesia is a crucial part of the country which enables a unity in diversity. Ironically, as the globalization era emerges, as time passing by this national identity is slowly being abandoned by the people, especially the younger generation. There are several factors that cause this social issue occurs, those are education and society.

With the rapid growing of globalization in Indonesia, Indonesia which is considered as a third world country or a developing country is in fact experiencing a many national changes. One of the social changes is the change in educational system that directly affects the globalization of English language. Nowadays, there are plenty numbers of international schools in Indonesia. The reason behind this is because Indonesia has opened its market globally which invites international companies to come and run a business in Indonesia. The emerging of international business in Indonesia allows the emerging of culture from the international sides as well.

English, as the universal language that used as a medium to communicate is then becoming highly important not just for business purposes but also for educational system. This is due to the fact that education has to assimilate with the current social change in order to produce students that can fit and compete in the society which highly uses English as its second and even main language. Having this in mind, international schools as private institution are dare to compete with public schools which offer conservative education system that use English as a mere subject to learn that is equally important as Science. International schools, however, offer more attractive certificates for graduates by having for instance Cambridge certifications that can be applied in other education institution in other country such as Singapore, Melbourne, United Kingdom and any other country under Cambridge system. This allows students who hold international certifications to be a global minded graduate that can cope with the global educational system around the world. International schools that can proudly offer world-wide opportunities are seemed to be more attractive than public school that is limited by budget by government. Therefore, the practice of English that is used as the main language in international school change the behavior of the students and more importantly the parents as well.

The emerging of English to Indonesia has a both positive and negative impact on the society. English as second language can be beneficial for both the country and the individuals. Being able to speak Bahasa Indonesia and English is the proof of how one does not abandon national identity but at the same time able to catch up with the existing globalization culture in Indonesia. By speaking in Indonesia, it shows that one preserves national treasure and does not abandon historical background of Indonesia. However, English is also becoming a thread for those who cannot cope with the globalization era such as the medium and low class or elder generation. The imbalance spread of schools and different syllabus may lead to an educational gap different in the society however one of government’s attempts on creating a balance between public school and international school is by requiring international schools to take National Examination as well as having Bahasa Indonesia as a mandatory subject. By doing this, hopefully there will be a generation who beholds onto national identity but meanwhile also keep improving self by learning English in the globalization era in Indonesia.

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