Bahasa Indonesia for national unity: An analysis of language policies and the use of national and local languages in education

This chapter presents an analysis of the Indonesian government’s language policies and teachers’ perspectives of a multilingual situation where the national and local languages are used in education. The Indonesian government has always considered Bahasa Indonesia as one of the key points for ensuring the maintenance of national unity, hence the use of Bahasa Indonesia has been encouraged for all formal settings including in education. The chapter aims to provide rich and critical investigation of the government’s agenda on national unity as indicated in language policies, and to reveal how teachers experience and perceive the success of the national unity agenda using Bahasa Indonesia in schools. The results revealed that Bahasa Indonesia is not considered as the only important language in education, rather code switching with local language is seen as beneficial for teaching-learning purposes. Bahasa Indonesia is acknowledged as a language for national unity and identity; however, the use of multi languages including Bahasa Indonesia and Javanese in schools in the Special Province of Yogyakarta (DIY) for communication, student success, and solidarity is also noted. The findings clearly indicate that the ecology of languages in the context of DIY involves at least two languages – Bahasa Indonesia and Javanese. Finally, it has become clear that the positions of languages in a society is flavoured by local wisdom, rather than determined solely by a top-down government policy.