New rule to stymie English teaching

Hinton John Lowe, Bandung

The government's announcement of a new regulation that all foreigners must pass a test of their competence in Bahasa Indonesia before being granted a work permit, is arousing controversy.

A consequence of this will be that many teachers of English will be excluded. They will not come here. They will go instead to other countries where they are welcome and don't need to pass such a test. And where there is government support for programs to teach and learn English.

Many Indonesians want to learn English. The English language is a gateway to many education and employment opportunities, both in Indonesia and elsewhere. Even some tertiary teaching here, such as in medicine and management, is already being conducted in English.

Not all parents can afford to send their children abroad to acquire competence in English; and many of them would prefer to keep them at home, in their families, if there were equal education opportunities here, especially to learn good Standard English.

Most students identify lack of opportunity to speak English as their main disadvantage in learning the language. More speakers and teachers of good English here would increase their opportunities.

Whilst it is a good idea that foreigners who work here should learn to speak Bahasa Indonesia, perhaps the test should be applied after one year, before renewal of their work permits. However, it seems unreasonable that teachers of English from English speaking countries should be able to speak, and perhaps also read and write, Indonesian before coming here.

No indications have yet been given about the types and degree of competence that will be required, adding to the uncertainty about the meaning of the regulation and its effects. Perhaps the announcement of the new regulation has preceded such considerations.

The quality and level of competence in teaching and using Standard English in Indonesia is generally very poor. Access of well educated speakers, writers and teachers of Standard English to work in Indonesia should not be discouraged by the requirement that they be already competent in Bahasa Indonesia before they are permitted to teach English here.

Such a requirement will retard Indonesia's economic and intellectual development, and restrict the education and employment opportunities of its citizens. The governments of many countries now have policies and programs to extend competence in English, to enhance their competitive trading and intellectual positions in the new global economy.

Will Indonesia, yet again, fall behind in the stakes, because of ill-conceived language policies? Or perhaps, because of the lack of any policy!

The writer is a lecturer at Universitas Widyatama, Bandung. He can be reached at hilo@indo.net.id.