Indonesian Language: The Forgotten Foundation in Higher Education
The most fundamental error in viewing the Indonesian language course is to regard it as mere grammar instruction on the perfected spelling system, punctuation, or subject-predicate rules. In fact, the function of language goes far deeper. Language is the medium in which reasoning is formed. Someone who struggles to compose logical, coherent sentences is essentially facing difficulty in thinking coherently itself.
At university, students are required to write academic works: papers, research reports and theses. All of these demand the ability to construct arguments systematically, distinguish cause from effect, and connect one idea to another coherently. Without adequate command of the language, students may have brilliant ideas yet fail to convey them convincingly. Thesis supervisors are all too familiar with this complaint: not because students lack data or analysis, but because their writing is convoluted, ambiguous, or shows no clear line of thought. The findings of Yanti, Suhartono and Hiasa (2018) on students of the Indonesian Language and Literature Education programme at the University of Bengkulu reinforce this picture: of 33 students tested on their academic writing skills, the majority fell into the poor to very poor categories, with only a small portion achieving a good rating.
Ironically, many assume that Indonesian students, because they use Bahasa Indonesia as their mother tongue or daily language, are automatically proficient at writing in it. This assumption is misleading. The ability to speak orally in informal contexts differs greatly from academic writing, which demands structure, objectivity and precision of diction.
This phenomenon becomes apparent when students compose academic works. Sentences become too long without clear structure, standard and non-standard words are mixed indiscriminately, and more worryingly, many students struggle to distinguish legitimate paraphrasing from plagiarism, because they have never been trained to process others’ ideas into their own sentences. This is not merely a technical writing problem, but reflects weak academic literacy that should be cultivated early on at university. Juniarti (2017) even describes academic writing skills as a fundamental competency that should be honed continuously throughout one’s studies, rather than considered complete once a student finishes secondary school.
There is another equally important dimension: strengthening Bahasa Indonesia as a language of science. When campuses orient themselves excessively towards English-language publications—important as they are for international recognition—there is a risk that Bahasa Indonesia will gradually be pushed out of the realm of higher scholarship. Yet a nation that wishes to be intellectually sovereign needs a scholarly tradition in its own language.
Japan, Germany and France are examples of developed countries that maintain and develop their national languages as languages of science, alongside mastery of foreign languages. Indonesian universities should take a lesson from this: good command of Bahasa Indonesia actually becomes the foundation for mastering foreign languages more maturely, because both require an awareness of linguistic structure and logic.
An argument often raised is that the world of work needs foreign language skills more than Indonesian. On closer inspection, this argument is flawed. Almost every profession—whether in government, corporations, law, media or education—demands the ability to write reports, proposals, official letters and professional correspondence in Bahasa Indonesia. Recruitment at various institutions frequently includes writing tests or interviews that assess the clarity and logic of applicants’ language.
Even in the digital era, when written communication via email, online reports and policy documents has become a routine part of work, the ability to write clearly and effectively is an added value that distinguishes one professional from another. University graduates who are not equipped with this skill will struggle to compete, however strong their technical competence in their respective fields.
A study by Purnamasari and Hartono (2023) notes that the policy of making Bahasa Indonesia a compulsory course at all universities and study programmes is intended to sharpen language skills while shaping students’ character, not merely to repeat material already covered at secondary school. Sari, Hizbullah and Syaputra (2022) add that good command of Bahasa Indonesia is an important guide in scientific communication across disciplines within the campus environment.
The problem, then, lies not only with students, but with how the course is designed and taught. If Bahasa Indonesia at university merely repeats secondary school grammar material without adapting to advanced academic needs, it is natural for students to find the course irrelevant. What is needed is a reorientation of the curriculum: from mere grammar towards academic writing, the logic of argumentation, the construction of scholarly works, and writing ethics such as correct citation and paraphrasing.
With such an approach, the Indonesian language course can become a cross-disciplinary foundation—whether for engineering students who must write research reports, law students who must construct juridical arguments, or health students who must document the results of studies systematically. All fields of knowledge ultimately require clarity of language to convey ideas.
Maintaining and strengthening the teaching of Bahasa Indonesia at university is not a form of nostalgia for the past, but a long-term investment in the quality of scholarship and graduates’ competitiveness. Good language reflects clear thinking, and clear thinking is the chief asset of anyone wishing to contribute seriously to their field of knowledge or the world of work. It is high time universities stopped viewing this course as a mere supplement and began positioning it as the foundation supporting the entire academic process of students, whatever their discipline.