Anak Minang Dengan Bahasa Indonesia Dan

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Northern Illinois University Center for Southeast Asian Studies

MINANGKABAU CHILDREN TO INDONESIAN ADULTS: Promoting Public Policy throughIndonesian Language Teaching in West Sumatra, IndonesiaAuthor(s): Rebecca Fanany and Z Mawardi EffendiSource: Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1(1999), pp. 105-113Published by: Northern Illinois University Center for Southeast Asian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40860708 .

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MINANGKABAUCHILDREN TO INDONESIAN ADULTSPromotingublicPolicy hroughndonesian anguageTeachingin West umatra,ndonesiaRebeccaFanany*ndZ MawardiEffendi**

The Indonesian overnmentses languageclasses notonlyto teachschool hildrenhe ndonesiananguagebut lso toconvey orms ndvalues for national citizenship.The overall effect f Indonesianlanguage nstructionnWestSumatra s todefineanguagedomains,convey he tate'svalues, nformtudents fpublicpolicy ampaigns,andteach oodcitizenship.Introduction:anguage n And Out Of SchoolTheStatus f ndonesianThefirstanguageof most ndonesian hildren s notBahasaIndonesia,henationalanguage ftheir ation, utrather ne ofthehundreds f ocal anguages bahasa aerah)poken hroughouthearchipelago. or thisreason, ne of theprimary oals oftheearlyyears f chool ducationn ndonesia s todevelop he bilityo useIndonesian luentlyn an academic ettingLana,1993).Throughoutthe remainder f a student's choolcareer,ndonesian emainsmajor omponentf thecurriculum,ithmasteryf the anguagebeing losely elatedoa successfulducational utcome.Themagnitudefthis ask houldnotbeunderestimated.hetwohundred r so local anguages sed n ndonesia renotmerelydialects f ndonesian,r the losely elatedMalay,butare distinctlanguages.ManybelongtotheAustronesianamily f anguages,just as Indonesiandoes, but othersdo not. Some of the locallanguages are linguistically lose to Indonesian,but theyare* RebeccaFanany s a lecturer n Indonesianat Deakin UniversitynMelbourne,Australia. he is currentlyompleting book on MinangProberbsobepublished yDewanBahasadanPustaka, ualaLumpur.**Z MawardiEffendis Dean oftheFaculty f SocialScience ducation tIKIPPadang nPadang,West umatra,ndonesia,wherehealsoheads theLearningResourcesCenter.He has writtenxtensivelyn educationaldeliveryystemsnd ocusof ontrol.

Crossroads: nInterdisciplinaryournalf outheast sianStudies13(l):105-113Copyright999 ytheCenter or outheast sian tudiesNorthernllinois niversity

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Rebecca anany& Z MawardiEffendidifferentnoughthat hildren eed to learnstandardndonesian(Bahasa ndonesia aku)as a second language.LanguageDomains n ndonesiaThe existenceof language domains has been noted anddescribed y linguistsuch as Fishman1972)andTrudgill1992).The domainof a language, ialect, rstyles the et ofcontextsnwhich t s usedby speakers.n otherwords, peakers djusttheirlanguageuse based on the nature f theirnteractionnd switchbetweenanguages, rcodes, s the ituationemands.Thisabilitytocode-switchspart fa speaker'smasteryf firstanguage ndone of hemany spects f ompetencenany anguage.In Indonesia, the domains,or functional oles, of locallanguages and Indonesian are distinctand do not overlap.Overwhelmingly,ocal languagesare associatedwithday to dayactivitiesn thehome, r withfriends nd family,nd relate oallthecommonplace asks and activitieshatoccupya large partofmostpeople'stime.ndonesian,ycontrast,s the anguageused informalnd officialontexts,ncludingfficialusiness ntheworkplace, radio and televisionbroadcasts,press reporting, largemajorityfbooks andmagazines,ndeducation.ndonesian s alsoused as the meansofcommunicationetween hosewho do notspeak the same local language, s on formal ublicoccasionsoramong ndonesiansfrom ifferentartsofthecountryBadudu,1988).Not surprisingly,most Indonesiansprobablyhave somefacilityt least in spoken ndonesian, lthough anguage abilityvaries observably cross thenation.Additionally, s mightbeexpected,most ndonesians evelopat an early ge theability oshift odes, that s, to switchbetween anguages and languagevarietiesccordingo the ituation. onetheless, anyndonesiansfeelmost omfortablepeaking heir ocal anguage, articularlythomeor nnon-officialituationsAnwar, 990).Languagen Educationn ndonesiaThe languageofall Indonesianformal ducation s BahasaIndonesia,hich s a compulsoryubject tprimary,econdary,ndtertiaryevelsin all publicand private chools and universities.Children enerally o not havemuchabilityn Indonesianwhentheybegin school at age six, so primary chool teachersarepermittedouse the ocal anguage f nd whenrequiredngrades106 Crossroads3:1



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PublicPolicy nd ndonesianLanguageTeachingoneto three. ythefourthrade, ll instructions expected o be inIndonesian. ythe nd ofthenineyears fcompulsorynstruction,all studentsreexpectedo havenear-nativeluencyn ndonesian.Manychildrennteringchoolhavealready eenexposedtoIndonesianat least through elevision, utmost have had littlepracticepeaking he anguage ndgenerallyannot o so fluently.Even childrenwhoseparents peaktwodifferentocal languagesrarely peak ndonesian s a firstanguage.Most ofthese hildrenadopttheirmother'sanguage, ut anguageuse is also influencedbythepresence fother amilymembers,ywhetherhe hild ivesin one of theparents'regionsof origin, nd by the amountofinteractionith he ommunityutside hehome.Even f heir irstlanguage is Indonesian, hese childrenmayuse a non-standarddialect fthe anguage nd need to earn hemoreformal,tandardversionn school.The Indonesian curriculum for each grade covers acombination f nationaland local topicson a wide varietyofsubjects. he language urriculum or achgrade s prescribedytheMinistry f Education. Much of the materialcontained ntextbooks s produced nationally,as are the standard finalexaminations. onetheless, rovincial uthorities ave a certainamount f ontrol ver he urriculumegmentsnown oeducatorsas "localcontent."ocal contentessons ontainmaterial elt ytheprovincial epartmentfEducation o be of ignificanceochildrenof their egion,whomaybe differentnbackgroundnd ethnicidentityhanstudentsn other reas. At theprimaryevel,forexample, nationally prescribedmaterial deals with nationalholidays,historicalfiguresand sites, and places of interestthroughouthecountry.ocal contentt this evelmight oncernlocal culture, spectsof adat traditionalaws and customs), ndhistoryf he ocalethnic roup rgroups.The regionaldifferencesn curriculum eflect fforts fprovincial authorities to encourage educational outcomesappropriateo ocal needs.However, hese oncernsresecondaryto thegoalofenculturatingnorientationo the ndonesian ation.Discussion n therestof this rticle oncerns he situation n theprovince f WestSumatra nd the ndonesiananguagematerialsused in its schools t thepresent ime.These texts reintended ocreatenstudents concept fnationaldentityhich entersn theuse of ndonesiananguagenallpublic ontexts.

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Rebecca anany& Z MawardiEffendiLanguageAndEducationn West umatraSociolinguisticackgroundThe overwhelmingmajorityfthe4.2 millionresidents fWest Sumatrabelongto theMinangkabau thnicgroup.BahasaMinangs the firstanguageof mostMinangkabau, oth nWestSumatrand elsewheren ndonesia.MinangsrelatedoMalay ndIndonesian, ut inguists sually lassifytas a separate anguage(Omar,1992).Speakers f ndonesian rMalaycannotgraspmorethan solatedwordswhenMinangsspoken. he anguagehasfourrecognizableialects hatdentifyhe peaker's laceoforigin. heMinang poken nPadang,theprovincialapital, s considered ymanyMinang orepresenthe tandard ialectMedan,1988), ndotherndonesians ften all the anguageBahasa adang, egardlessofdialect.Manynon-Minang eelthatfamiliarityith ndonesian squitehigh nWestSumatra,venamong hosewith omparativelylittleformal ducation.Medan (1988) suggests hatadoptionofIndonesiann West umatra as been low,butIndonesian-speakingvisitors o theprovince suallyfind hatmostpeoplecan at leastunderstandndonesian,ven f he ocalsmight emore omfortablespeakingMinang.Theprovinceupportsneweekly ndtwodaily ndonesian-languagenewspapers.Numerous ndonesian-language agazinesareavailable round heprovince. ivenational elevisiontationsbroadcast aily n Indonesian,ndmostofthemanynational ndlocalradio tationslso useIndonesian.There re fouranguageswith istinctomainsnuseinWestSumatra. Indonesian is used forofficial poken and writtencommunicationsfallkinds,ncluding overnment,ducation,ndthemedia. t s also used for ommunicationith eopleoutside heMinang ommunity. inangs spokennnon-officialontexts,uchas discussion of generaltopics in family ettings nd in theworkplace.English s thelanguageof theeducational lite andservesprimarilys a status anguagerather hana languageofcommunication.rabic, he anguage freligion,s used ina rangeofgreetingsnd exclamations nd also fordaily prayers nd theFriday ermonnmosques. tsusewins thespeaker cceptancenhis social group.Code switching mongthesefour anguages scommon.Ratesofparticipationneducationrehigh nWestSumatra.There re more han 100public ndprivate rimaryndsecondary108 Crossroads 3:1



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PublicPolicy nd ndonesian anguageTeachingschoolsunder he upervisionf theDepartmentfEducation ndCultureDepartemenendidikananKebudayaan)nWestSumatra,and an additional 01religious rimaryndsecondarychools reoverseen ytheDepartmentfReligionDepartemengama)BPS,1994).TheMinangkabauultureraditionallylaces highvalue oneducation nd learning Bappeda,1993;Navis,1984). n 1992,forexample, 6.25% fWest umatranhildrenged7-12were nrolledin somekind f choolBappeda, 993).Indonesian anguageMaterials nWest umatraPrimarychool essons n languagetexts onsist freadingsfollowed ycomprehensionctivities. thigherevels, tudents reintroducedto more complex readings,are taught ndonesiangrammar,nd are given practice n literacykills such as letterwriting, filling out forms, and understanding classifiedadvertisements.omehigherevel lessonsrequire tudents o doresearchboutthetopicof the esson.Forexample, lesson aboutthefunctionfcommunityealth entersmight equire tudents ovisit health enter o earn bout he ervices rovided here. therlessons ntroduce tudents o words and symbols ssociatedwithpubliceducation ampaigns,sking hem ofind hese ymbolsntheirwncommunity.Publicpolicycampaignsfeature rominentlyn languagetextbooks.n WestSumatra,ne of themost ommonlymentionedcampaigns,speciallyt theprimaryevel, s health romotion.hetexts overall of thehealthpromotion ampaigns unningn theprovince,ncluding nvironmentalygiene, se ofpublichealthfacilities,maternal nd childhealth, amily lanning, nd trafficsafety. uniornd senior igh chool extbooks eal with dditionalpublicpolicy ssues such as transmigration,se ofvillagelevelcooperatives,ndappropriateublic ehavior.Upper evel anguage extsnWest umatra overmany opicsthatmost nglish-speakingountries ould not ncluden anguageclasses.HighschoolEnglish lasses nEnglish-speakingountriesfocuson classicand modern iterature. ut ndonesian anguagetextsalso discuss agriculture, ndustry, ports,work,energy,government,otany,nd natural esources. his s becauseMinangchildren re expectedto studyall thesesubjectsexclusivelynIndonesian. ince hey endnottouse Indonesian utside f chool,the ndonesian lass s theonlyplace they re ikely odevelopthelinguisticoolsneededfor heirtudies.

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Rebecca anany& Z MawardiEffendi

TheEffects f ndonesian anguage nstructionDefining anguageDomainsPeopleinWestSumatra ormally se Indonesian odiscussmatterselatingofamily lanning, ealth, itizenshipndthe ike.Languagetextbooks ave fixed hese opicswithin hedomain ofIndonesian s the anguage fpublic, fficial,ndformal iscourse.Minang, n theotherhand,better its hetraditions fmatrilinealWest Sumatran ociety.Conceptsof traditionaleadershipandgovernment,ndividual onduct nd family elationships,nd thebehavior prescribedby adat can all be expressedeasily andappropriatelynMinang.Minangacks pecificocabularyormanyofthepublicpolicy opics overed n ndonesiananguagematerials,thoughthese ssues can be discussed in generaltermsor withoccasionalndonesianorrowings.When the two domains come together n a discussion,speakers ometimeswitch ack andforthetweenanguages.Adatleaders ndMinang xpertsnthefields ftraditionsnd customsoften ttemptoreconcile hedemandsof themodern ndonesianstatewith heprinciplesfMinangkabauraditionsee,for xample,Hakimy, 994).Most seek a nationaldentitys Indonesiansnd apersonal dentifications Minang.Code switching etweenthelanguages eflectshisdouble dentity.or nstance, akimy1994),as partof a discussion f theroleofthewife s head ofthefamily,states that the wife should "[Indonesian] make sure thatgovernment rograms elating o a happyhouseholdrunas theyare supposed to by participatingn familyplanning that is[Minang] ossible nd appropriatend inaccordancewith ustomand does notviolate he raditionsfthe ommunity"1994I98)1.nthis example, the authoruses Indonesian when speaking ofgovernmentamily lanning rogramsndMinangwhen peakingof custom nd tradition,s wouldbe expected rom he anguagedomainsmpartedythe chools.

1 The original of this quote is: "mengatur erlaksananya rogrampemerintahumah angga ahagiadeneanpelaksaankeluarga erencana(KB) yangdisesuaikandenganmungkino patuik,manuruiklua nanluruihdan manampua alan nanpasa (Hakimy, 994:98).Theboldfacesections n ndonesian;he egularypes nMinang.110 Crossroads3:1



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PublicPolicy nd ndonesian anguageTeachingTeachinghe tate'sValuesEducationhas traditionally een viewed as a matterofinstillingn students heknowledge,kills, nd values consideredimportantn their ocietySilberman, 970). n thewest, oncernsabout increasing ulturaldiversity ave led to an "erosion"ofauthoritativeultural nderstandingnd a shiftwayfromxplicitteachingfvalues nd deals Hum, 1985).Thishas nothappenednIndonesia. In Indonesia,educationaims to give students theessentialsforresponsiblemembershipn theIndonesiannation.Many aspectsofgovernmentolicy nd attitudes,ublicconduct,andthenorms f ndonesianocietyretaught hroughndonesianlanguage tudy.The effectnMinangkabau hildren s two-fold. irst, heylearnto expresstheir houghts n these topicsin Indonesian,becoming amiliar ith heway they re discussednthepress ndotherpublic forums. ndonesian classes make them aware ofsymbols nd acronymsssociatedwith gencies uch as thoseforfamily lanningndhealth. hey lso becomefamiliar ith logansand catchwords sed in publiceducationcampaignson safety,public onduct,ndhealth.Meanwhile,heyearnwaysof peakingand writingboutall ofthesetopics n Indonesian.Thus,whilelearningndonesian,hildrenlso learnhow to communicateboutspecificublic olicyssues.The second ffectfacquiring itizenshipwareness hroughlanguage lasses s that hildrenearn o thinknwayspromotedythegovernment.orexample,anguage essons ncourageMinangchildren o make use ofpublicfacilities,o not litter,o behaveresponsibly henwalking rdriving,nd to respect henationalphilosophyndleaders.Childrenpenda great ealoftime alkingand writingboutpubliceducation ampaigns n their anguageclasses.The texts requentlyoncern amily lanning rogramsunbythenationalfamily lanning gency, adanCoordinasieluargaBerencana asional,nd this mphasishas had a noticeable ffect.Most westernershesitateto discuss birth control n generalconversations,utMinang eadily iscuss t ndetail n ndonesianeventhough ther ersonalmattersrenot pproached o openly.22If person as butoneor two hildren,ndonesiansommonlyespond ysaying hat he peakermusthave usedbirthontrol.ikewise,ndonesiansoftenite irthontrols thereason hey ave few r no children.hiskindof forthrightnessboutbirth ontrol s rareamong Englishspeakers,especially hen peakingostrangers.

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Rebeccaanany Z MawardiffendiFamilyplanningfallssociolinguistically ithinthe domain ofIndonesian,ndMinangmaynot feel he amereticenceboutthistopic hat heymightntheir ative anguage, ecausethe opichasbecomedesensitizedor hemntheir econd anguage.ConclusionInmany ultures,ducation cts as a modernizingorce hatteaches hildren orms nd attitudes hat rerequiredn a modernsociety ut that re inappropriaterunnecessaryn a traditionalsociety Hum, 1985).Education n developingnationshas beenobserved opromotennovation ather han raditionnd tofosterreliance n newknowledge nd experienceather hanon custom(Inkeles nd Smith, 974).This s thecase inWestSumatra,nd inIndonesiangeneral, here ndonesiananguage eachingeinforcestheuseof ndonesian s the anguage fofficialublicdiscourse ndfostersn individuals hedevelopmentf an Indonesian dentityalongside heir ersonalMinangkabau thnicdentity.hepublicpolicy contentof Indonesian language texts attests to thegovernment'smphasis n education orgoodcitizenship.he useof ndonesianessons ogivestudentsnformationnpublicpolicyinstillsn children hemessage hat s Indonesian itizensheymustnotonly ead,write,peak, nd understandndonesian,utalso beconversantntheattitudesndviewsneeded to taketheir laceasIndonesiandults.

ReferencesAnwar, haidir1990 Indonesian:heDevelopmentnd Useof National anguage.Yogyakarta:adjahMadaUniversityress.Badudu,Jusuf1988 Cakrawalaahasa ndonesia.akarta:TGramedia.BappedaTk and Kantortatistikumatera arat1993 Indikatoresejahteraanakyat umatera arat1992.Padang,West umatra: appedaTk .BPS Biro usat tatistik)1994 Sumateraarat alamAngka.adang,West umatra: appeda.112 Crossroads3:1



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PublicPolicy nd ndonesian anguageTeaching

Fishman,oshua1972 The Sociologyof Language: An Interdisciplinary pproachtoLanguagenSociety. owley,Massachusetts:ewbury ouse.Hakimy,drus1994 Pegangan Penghulu, Bundo Kanduang, dan Pidato AluaPasambahanAdat di Minangkabau. Bandung, West Java: PTRemajaRosdakarya.Hum,Christopher1985 TheLimits nd PossibilitiesfSchooling. ewton,Massachusetts:Allyn ndBacon.Inkeles, lex ndSmith, avid1974 Becomingodern.ambridge: arvardUniversityress.Lana,Agusli1993 Pengantar emampuan ahasa ndonesia. adang,West Sumatra:

FPBS KIPPadang.Medan,Tamsin1988 Antologiebahasan.adang,West umatra: ngkasaRaya.Navis,AliAkbar1984 AlamTkambang adiGuru:AdatdanKebudayaanMinangkabau.Jakarta:rafitiers.Omar,AsmahHaji1992 The LinguisticScenery n Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: DewanBahasadanPustaka.Silberman,harles1970 Crisis in the Classroom:TheRemaking fAmericanEducation.New York:RandomHouse.Trudgill,eter1992 Introducinganguage ndSociety. ondon: Penguin.

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Anak Minang Dengan Bahasa Indonesia Dan