Indonesian or English best for Timor Lorosae

Indonesian or English best for Timor Lorosae

Christina Schott, Contributor, Jakarta

The new Timorese Lorosae government, formerly known as East
Timor, has chosen Portuguese and Tetun as the official national
languages. English and Indonesian shall only be used as "working
languages" in the future. Although the constitution is already
laid down, discussion about the state's language is still going
on.

The Jakarta Post asked well-known Indonesian poet and
journalist Goenawan Mohammad his opinion.

Question: Do you think that Bahasa Indonesia will still play
an important role in Timor Lorosae in the future?

Answer: It is hard for me to say, because I am not a Timor
Lorosae's people. But if you look at it geographically and
historically: I think, it would be more practical for the Timor
Lorosae people to be able to communicate in Indonesian, as
Indonesia is still their closest neighbor.

Q: But only three percent of Timor Lorosae's people voted last
year in a survey by the Asia Foundation for Indonesian as the
official language -- even though 63 percent are fluent in Bahasa
Indonesia...

A: Of course, I understand their resentment against Indonesia.
But you can adopt the language without calling it Indonesian --
you could call it Malaysian. Like Melayu Timor for example; just
to get rid of the language's stigma. This language is also used
in the southern part of Thailand, in Malaysia and in some parts
of the Philippines. But Portuguese -- who speaks Portuguese in
this region?

Q: Do you think, that Bahasa Indonesia still has a chance to be
used in Timor Lorosae despite the constitution which names
Portuguese and Tetun as the official languages?

A: It depends how fast the colleges start teaching the Timor
Lorosae's people Portuguese. As they have already started sending
teachers from Portugal, they will probably forget the Indonesian
language soon, which is actually a pity. At the same time, by
being annexed by Indonesia for so many years, the people have
already become accustomed to the language and its tradition. The
young generation in particular, after more than 20 years under
Soeharto's rule, have all been educated in Bahasa Indonesia.

Q: Why, in your opinion, did the new government favor Portuguese,
which is the language of a former colonizer, as is Indonesian?

A: Maybe they feel that Portugal was a better colonial master
than Indonesia. Or maybe, because Portuguese is an older
tradition, it would be part of the key to progress. But as I
said, it is not practical in this region: If they adopted
English, it would be much more sensible.

Q: Some Timor Lorosae's people, however, that English would also
be a kind of colonization...

A: No, look at Singapore for example. And Malaysia uses English
as well.

Q: Is Singapore really a good comparison -- this very rich
country in contrast to Timor Lorosae, which is one of the poorest
in the world?

A: That is exactly why you should look at the use of the English
language -- the economic and intercultural impact, not at the
colonial or non-colonial issue.

Q: Is the decision to adopt the Portuguese language motivated by
emotion on the part of the Timor Lorosae's leaders?

A: I don't want to say that. But Indonesia did not adopt Dutch,
just because we had a relation with the Dutch people. We adopted
English as the first foreign language. And this was a very wise
decision, because Dutch is spoken by very few people in the
world.

Q: What consequences will the choice of language have on Timor
Lorosae's cultural life?

A: Maybe it will be more exciting. Because of the Portuguese
language Europe will become closer culturally. They might have
interesting challenges in the future. But for the common people
today -- at least for the next couple of years -- the use of the
Indonesian and English language would still be very important to
keep pace.

Not only in culture: What about the legal system for example?
They have to train all the judges and lawyers. And imagine how
difficult it is already in your own language to speak in court!
How long will it take? How old are those people who are to be
trained again in a new language? And then you still have to
translate their speeches to the defendant, as he might not be
educated.

Q: How important will Tetun be in future Timor Lorosae?

A: Tetun is like Javanese -- the language spoken by the majority.
And I think, it should be used like Javanese in Indonesia: Spoken
by the local people, but not nationwide. Indonesia is the only
country in the world, which did not choose the language of the
majority of its people as the official language, because this
would have offended a lot of minorities. It was the best decision
for the freedom and unity of this country.