The World in Irony

“Apapun bisa happening, “Towards a World Class University”, Towards a Cyber Campus, or “English Speaking Islamic Kindergarten” are among texts ubiquitous in every corner of many growing cities in Indonesia. This phenomenon seems obvious that internationalization means “Englishation” in all utterances. All eye-catching brands are created to entice people’s appetite to taste the products. My curiosity emerges when I see all product offers are written and advertised in English or at least uses a mixed language. Parents are very proud to encourage their children to study at a school that uses English as their daily language. A mother of a toddler who is studying at an Islamic kindergarten told that his son is a great student, as he is able to speak English. Ironically, many parents are not concerned about the degree to which their children behave emotionally and spiritually. These two capacities are seemingly not among the most pivotal concern for a modern education. Parents put weight on the development of intellectual domain instead.

“Yang penting English”, everything but English has become a modern maxim to promote a modern life style. A person will be judged on the basis of his or her English proficiency. He or she will be seen as a “gaul” person, an all-around person, who is accepted in wider communal interactions. Someone with lack of English ability will not be regarded as a member of the globalized world. This seems unfair and pitiless. Six years ago, back then, I was doubt about a possible emergence of language imperialism. In my opinion, imperialism had to be tangible and involved oppression against the people of a colony. However, this mindset has proved me wrong. Imperialism also engages a great deal of language functions. A language bears multifaceted dimensions including ethics, values, norms, cultures, beliefs, and social attitudes. The domination of English seems overwhelming in Indonesia. Sooner or later, we are going to witness the death of many local languages, even the loss of national language. Obviously, there is a hegemonical process involved in the spread of English as a world-wide icon.

Language imperialism "involves the transfer of a dominant language to other peoples. The transfer is essentially a demonstration of power--traditionally military power but also in the modern world economic power--and aspects of the dominant culture are usually transferred along with the language" [source]. Language imperialism is one kind of cultural imperialism that is the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating, or artificially injecting the culture or language of one nation into another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, less important one. Cultural imperialism can take the form of an active, formal policy or a general attitude. The term is usually used in a pejorative sense, usually in conjunction with a call to reject foreign influence [source]. People all around the world are dragged into a uniformity of cultures. For example, they way people wear clothes is uniformed through world fashion which definitely has banished the appearance of local-traditional clothes. Young generations in many underdeveloped countries prefer junk food to traditional one. Having lunch at Warteg ( a kind of local food stall) is deemed out-of-date. This phenomenon seems to be cultural imperialism. Imperialism necessitates two inequal entities. The former is powerful, dominant, and advanced equipping themselves with technology and power over the world. While the latter is weak, recepient, and permissive. The use of new information technology pacilitates the inability of a superior culture to surpress the weak culture. I think the demis of many local dialects and languages in Indonesia due to the introduction of the Bahasa is also a kind of language imperialism.


Powerful cultures along with their ambission to conquer the world impose their values and norms including the language into the conquered. No wonder, many Muslim scholars during the Dutch time, rejected to learn, to speak, and let alone to support their educational institutions to teach English or Dutch. They argued that if someone emulated performance of a certain group, he or she would automatically become a member of this group. They were afraid that the new Muslim generation would be washed out by Dutch traditions. This thought gripped deeply in the Indonesian-Muslim’s mindset for decades. Even today, there are still few pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) avoid teaching secular sciences and foreign languages other than Arabic. The fallacy is developed through the imposition of English in many under developed countries. Among fallacies that are often heard are English is the best language, English is the language of advanced nations, and so on. For further discussion about imperialism and hegemony, we can read Galtung's and Gramsci's books.

Be that as it may, today’s lives have been engrossed into an era where the world has no physical border anymore. Any country or nation hardly attempts to shut down its ideological gate to prevent the influence of many new cultural and ideological players. The influx of information, services, and goods, be that positive or negative, is the reality that we cannot easily oppose or select. The most effective screening device used to opt for good and suitable choices to the nation’s characters is the community itself. The more knowledgeable the community, the more aware they are in selecting good materials for the sake of national character building. As long as a community submit themselves to the local wisdom for the best of their communal identity, they will be able to discern between the real goat and the wolf, and determine which is good for their future. It is imperative that all members of the community understand the goal of their life. Unfortunately, as a nation, Indonesia has yet to recognize its own ultimate goal. Many crooks tend to abort every good will that is dedicated to promoting the quality and the welfare of the nation.

With copious natural and human resources, oddly enough Indonesia is like a dwarf among the giants. Some politicians sometimes entertain the people by saying that Indonesia is the big country, the rich archipelago, and the great place for a great nation. Nevertheless, we cannot manage all this blessing wisely. Some neighboring countries and advanced nations suck up the treasure of this nation and leave it as a bare island with empty-handed people. There are many illustrations that push us to feel a great poignancy, such as illegal loggings, corruption, collusion, and nepotism. These practices have caused a structural poverty where many deprived and marginalized people live even in more desperation while rich minorities enjoy their extravagant privilege. An irony is also found when a maid stole Rp 16 billion or a servant assisted by his girl friend who happened to be a maid stole Rp 500 million from their master. The second culprit was caught by the police and admitted that he stole the jewelry and the money because he needed the money for the wedding party they planned. Such an irony might occur because many poor force themselves to adopt an alien life style that satisfies their imagination. They are already bored by a prolonged and miserable poverty and hunger. They need a shortcut to create their dreams. By daydreaming to be a rich is excruciatingly painful when realizing much injustice is so palpable before our eyes. The world is indeed full of irony.

Ciputat, 8/4/08