ART Lauren Zentz Language Planning and Policy in Abstract

ENGLISH
EDU
Journal of Language Teaching and Research
Articles in Vol. 8, No. 2 July 2008

Cultural Aspects in The Translation of Herge s Comic Series
The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham s Treasure

83 - 98

Listyani

Human Entities in Immortality
Henriono Nugroho

99 - 110

Language Planning and Policy in Indonesia:
Past Paths, Future Plans

111 - 122


The Influence of Faculty on Taiwanese University
Students English-learning Motivation

123 - 134

A Study of The Benefit of Extensive Reading on Vocabulary At The Faculty of Language and Literature of
Satya Wacana Christian University

135 - 152

Lauren Zentz

Dylan Sung, Chih-Wei Yang , and Lai-Yu Cheng

Greta Andrea Kartika Putri & Hendro Setiawan Husada

Language Planning and Policy in Indonesia: Past Paths, Future Plans (Lauren Zentz)

E PLANNING AND POLICY IN


INDONESIA: PAST PATHS, FUTURE PLANS
Lauren Zentz1

Department of Language, Reading and Culture
University of Arizona
laurenzentz@gmail.com

Abstract
The unification of Indonesia under one national language
was intended to bring together a diverse national population
speaking a wealth of regional languages. The implementation of a singular national and official language that belonged
to none of these regional populations was to bring all citizens together on equal footing, as bahasa Indonesia would
be at once everyone s national language, yet one that nobody spoke as a native language (Keane, 2003).
While ideally such a plan for implementing a national
language might seem attractive, statistics have shown that
there remains a lack of access to the national language, which
is the only language used in public school settings and in the
majority of nationalized media (Heryanto & Hadiz, 2005).
It is claimed here that without such access, it may be the

case that not all citizens in Indonesia are receiving their
Universal Human Right to education (United Nations, 1948).
After a discussion of the history of bahasa Indonesia
as the national and official language of Indonesia, the article moves on to discuss recent developments in language
theories in hopes of offering an approach to improving national language policies, and thereby working toward ensuring access to education throughout Indonesia.
Key words: Bahasa Indonesia, language policy, language
plan
1

She is currently doing research for her dissertation in Satya Wacana Chistian University.