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ARIEL HERYANTO rieal process, as well as recording some the 1930s it was used to translate the noticeable responses it has evoked from English word 'culture.' In modern Ma the general popUlation. laysia and Indonesia, however, 'cui· ture' is uniformly equated with the more' recently coined word, kebudaya· Language-Free Communities The Making of Language: an' It is very probable that the term Language is not a universal category 11ebudayaan was still unknown when Developmentalism in Indonesia or cultural activity. Though it may Windstedt prepared his dictionary. His sound odd, not all people have a lang rendering of 'culture' as bahasa was uage in the sense in which this term is presumably the best he' could do. But currently used in English. The histori· to equate the old word, bahasa, with Arid Heryanto was born in 1954 in Mala.ng, East Java. H" graduated in English from th,,' cal construction of Bahasa Indonesia as 'culture' or even kebudayaan was still ~tya Wac"na University (UKSW) in Salatiga in 1980, "nd in 1984 received hi. MA in A.ian Studies from th" University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He now teaches general "nd po.t-gra a bahasa, 'language,' was both similar problematic. duat" .atudic:. "t UKSW, and i. co~pleting a PhD in Sociology at Monash University, Md and integral to the process of cons An American scholar has more re· bourne. tructing Indonesia as a bangsa, 'nation' cently tried to exhaust mcxlern English I! - as well as her national Pembangunan, categories in her attempt to embrace I', 'DeVelopment.' the old idea of bahasa in Malay com· The word bahasa is a very old one. munities: "religion, culture, manners, It came to the several communities norms, and speech are equated in the of what is now Indonesia and neigh term bahasa" (Errington, 1974: 7). bouring areas from Sanskrit. But it did But she quickly admits that "it is a As commonly understood in contem- . a common but a-historical View of la not then mean 'language.' The newly falsification even to say that ... these porary English or its translation in the nguage. Contrary to the pervasive view, acquired meanings of bahasa were de· 'aspects' are 'equated'. Bahasa is uni-. many languages of the so-called Deve language is not universal. Rather, it rived from modern European lani;uages. tar), ..... The meanings of hhasa in loping countries, development 1 was is a phenomenon expressing the parti. My provisional survey suggests that at Old Javanese always include some re not only unknown and unspoken of in cular history of a society. I shall at least in the two most widely spoken ference to mighty, highly respected, the pre-colonial communities of what is examine the radical social transformati and influential languages in Indonesia, respectful, or respectable persons, ac· now Indonesia. It was simply unthink on that has taken place in the commu Malay and Javanese, there was no word ttvltleS, or things (see ZoetnlUldcr, able. So was the idea of 'language.' In nities of Indonesia during the last few for 'language' and no way or even need 1974: 146-147; 1982: 220); in con· fact, the introduction of the two con centuries, a transformation both caused to express the idea until the latter part trast to the neutral meanings of the cepts and the practices to which they by and resulting from the introduction of the last century. Of course, both tool-like 'language,' both bahasa If) :1 refer were inseparable. Once these com and widespread use of 'language' and II the modern words 'bahasa' and 'langu. old Malay and bhasa in Old Javanese munities constituted a nation, the work 'Development.' It is the story of an irre age' have a variety of meanings and did not belong to ordinary persons. of 'Developing the nation' has been versible restructuring of pre-existing definitions. Taken together, however, Their domain was confined to persons persistently accompanied by the task vernacular world-views and social activi they belong to a commonly shared and activities of high status in the of 'Developing the national language'. ties of non-Western and non-industri. history and particular worldview radio social hierarchy. This article is a critical reappraisal of alised communities. cally different from that of the old To a considerable degree, the old This discussion will begin wi th an Malay or Javanese ba(ha)sa, as we will sense of bhasa survives in modern The author is grateful for critical com in traduction of the major features of soon see. Precisely for this reason, Javanese as 'basa' (see Wolff and ments on earlier drafts hy Benedict Anderson, Pocdjosocdarmo, 1982: 5). Rasa IS Alton L. Becker, Joel S. Kahn, Francis Loh, traditionalJ avancse and Malay commu· the discussion below is bound to suf James Scott, and participants of a s"minar at nities, where neither 'language nor 'De fer shortcomings, for neither contem not an abstract and generic category the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Mo velopment' was known. As a contrast, porary English nor Bahasa Indonesia such as 'language.' It strictly refers to nuh University. Of course, the author alone is the prominent features of official con can help us understand the vernacular the Javanese language, and even more responsible for any shortcomings. temporary Bahasa Indonesia will then worlds of old Javanese and Malay as specifically to Krama (high·level Java. I It i. now possible, and useful, to stress satisfactorily as we may want. nese). Thus, when Javanese speak Ba· the distinction between 'Development,' an in be examined. Finally, I will suggest depc:ndent noun (e.g. ' ... of Developmen t'), some preliminary interpretations of The word, 'bahasa,' is found in R.O. hasa Indonesia or any foreign l:Wguagc and 'development; a noun of process (e.g. 'de how Devciopmentalist thinking and Windstedt's The English-Malay Dicti to ,each other, they seem to be engaged velopment of .. .'). practice came to the fore in this histo- onary (1939: 100), and even as late as in a social interaction very similar to Downloaded from
P~bahan struktur sosial dan ekonorni spc akers ... " socio-political significance is not shaped range of possible names in accordance sediltit saja pengaruhnya Itepada perkern To be fair, it must once again be ack bangan bahasa_ (Shadily, 1980: 358) by our mother tongue. [English original] with· his or her position within the so· nowledged that there are various views Groups of words and the rules governing cial hierarchy. When a child often gCb of language among Indonesian intellec Some Indonesian scholars do hold those words to form sentences. It is a sys· sick or goes through other major diffi· tern of sOWlds that signifies certain mean tuals. I have discussed this briefly else opposing views. Unfortunately, such culties, the common practice is to ings .... In general, language does not de where (Heryanto, 1987: 43), noting views are extremely rare, too much on cMrnge the child's name to lighten its pend on social structures. Changes in social that not all Indonesians who discuss the periphery of the discourse to draw and economic structures do not greatly in burden. The child is thought to suffer language and social structure see the the public attention they deserve, and fluence the development of language. from bearing a name with too much two as having a dialectical relationship are mostly presented in passing com bohot. or as mutually constituted. Rather, it ments_ Examples worthy of mention In no way do we get a sense that The contrast between the more tra· . is common for them to view language include Siamet Iman Santoso (1983) bahasa has any direct or essential re ditional and the more modern mean as merely a reflection of the social and Sartono Kartodirdjo (1987). lationship to human beings. In fact, ings of bahasa, as well as their resp('c structure (see e.g. Simatupang, 1983; The contrast between these two the relationship between language and tively defined worlds, may now be Moedjanto, 1985: 299). Despite this views of language can also be examined social structures is explicitly denied. A evident. But the transfonnation that \'ariety of views, the notion of lang by the way old communities arid their reference to human beings is made in these communities experienced remains En uage as primarily an instrument is descendants deal with words and another Indonesian encyclopedia, unclear. What we know is that this clearly dominant in modern Indonesia. names_ Modem Indonesians arc familiar siklopedi Umum, but the separability process undermined indigenous definiti This view informed the initial writings with the English aphorism 'what's in a between human thought/feelings and ons and imposed a new set of definiti human language remains. Here, bahasa of Indonesian grammars by one of the name?,' in translation 'apalalt artinya ons, a new ordering of meanings. It is is defined as, forefathers of Il)donesian grammar, sebuah nama?,' emphasising the ar also clear that these came predominan· Sutan Takdir Alisjahbhana (1959). It bitrary relationship between a name ungltapan pikiran dan perasaan manusia tly from the modem West. Of course, is also shared by Anton M. Moeliono and the person or thing named. By yang saara taatur dinyatakan dengan this is not the unique experience of memakai alat bunyi. Perasaan dan pikir (1982: 8), who headed the national contrast, more traditionally-inclined Malay or Javanese communities. A vast an merupakan isi-bahasa, sedangkan bu language centre (Pusat Pembinaan dan Malays and Javanese see in proper cmpus of writings on coloniali!>m, im nyi yang teratur rnerupakan bentuk-ba Pe1Zgembangan Bahasa); by Daoed J oe names and sacred words a superna hasa. perialism, under-development and de· sod (1983), then a Minister of Educa tural power. They have mantera, 'magic (Pringgodigdo and Shadily. 1973: 139) pendency seeks to explain Western tion and Culture; and by a large num formulas,' charms and spells to create domination of various communities the orderly expression of human thought ber of other Indonesian thinkers, and control perceived even ts_ In both across the globe_ But most of these and feeling as manifested in speech. Fee including Gunawan Wibisono Adidar communities there are taboos on wri tings concen trate on econom ic and lings and thoughts are the content of modjo (1983), Harsja W. Bachtiar uttering some names (e.g. of deities, language. the orderly sounds are the social analysis; questions of language (Kompas, 1985), and Jujun S. Surio royal families, spirits, heirlooms, and form of language. arc virtually ignored. sumantri (1985). To complete our wild beasts). Another common feature of these In this view, thought/feelings can picture of this dominant view, we Traeli tionally-inclined Javanese are writings is their tendency to make presumably exist beyond language, may also note that the same notion was extremely careful about naming chil sw("eping generalisations about the hIS and vice.versa. S igni fican t1y, no ex am presented by Presiden t·to-be General dren so as to avoid misfortune. Thus, tories of different non-Western commu· ple of language-free thought or feelings Soeharto in the embryonic year of the the relationship between a name and nities. As we want to deal with the (or thought-and-feelings-free language) New Order (Soeharto, 1967: 37)_ the named is not considered arbitrary. specific experience of IndoneSIan com is ever presented by proponents of this In his recently published dissertati To these Javanese, eaeh name has what munities, some of the brief remarks commonly held view. Although Hassan on, Khaidir Anwar (1980: 12) pays is called bobot, a term which in other that Benedict Anderson (1990) rnakn Shadily was responsible for preparing serious attention to this question and senses can simply be rendered into both encyclopedias, there is a surprising on the impact of Western contact with presents a strong argument in line with English as 'weight.' Bobot in relation and striking difference between the .J ava are of weat interesl. Anderson mai ns tream thin king. two in their views on the relation bet to naming a person refers to the qu describes the shattering of tile old .1 ,\ ween language and social structure. The ... as far as cognitive thought and know antity and quality of supernatural vanese cosmology after the introducti· second work notes that social factors ledge is co ncerned. one', language acts po'wer it carries. Parents want to make on and rapid expansion of trains, clocks. mostly as an instrument rather than a are inseparable from the structure or sure that each of their ch ildren has and the newspaper industry 111 late shapero Our Weltanschauung has not much a benevolent and auspicious name. 19th cen tury Java. The traeli tiollal pers language. "Linguistic expressions de to do with our native language, and our However, each person in this commu· pective of time, space, human beings pend on the social milieu of their considered opinion of an issue having nity is entitled to only a particular and all other realities was radically and Downloaded from
fatally challenged by a new "re-presen The use of dictionaries among the subtle, for it expresses itself in what that one is not yet an idealj avanese or tation" of reality: maps, calendar, sta schooled elites from near the end of appears to be an indigenous word. Malay, hardly has any validi ty. Every tistical figures, and the print alphabet. the 19th century led to a further as There is certainly a great need for Javanese and Malay is now taught to Anderson shows how confident the sumption that "languages are translata more comprehensive study of the his view and define his/her essential being Javanese had been in their relatively ble" (Anderson, 1990). Still more fun tory of Bahasa Indonesia from a socio and others' within the modern Wes tern autonomous and closed cosmology_ damental to our concern than these all historical perspective. More important, wortd view: all are indiscriminately and encompassing changes, something that In the 18th and 19th centuries, Javanese I think, is the history of the idea and universally 'human beings.' In the lies beyond Anderson's immediate in rulers had called themselves Pakubuwono practice of ba(ha)sa. Students of Indo· 1940s Javanese nationalists joined the (Nail of the Cosmos) and Hamengkubuwo terest, was the idea and practice of nesian languages do not yet have what confident advocacy of their fellow no (Holder of the Cosmos) without much learning a powerful language in school. seU-consciousness, though from today'. the students of Southeast Asian history countrymen in propagating the idea of The demise of the old ba(ha)sa and perspective there is something irremediably have in the joint work by Anthony 'humanism' in the Constitution and· the rise of bahasa as 'language' can be laughable about rival rulers with capitals Reid and David Marr (1979), Percep . the official state ideology, Pancasz'/a. seen as part' of the process of globalisa (Surakaru and J oKiakarta) less than 50 tions {;[ the Past in Southeast Asia, Today, Kemanusiaan, 'humanitaria miles apart calling themselves hy such tion and Westernisation. In this we see or students of Javanese politics. in the nism,' has. become one of the most world-conquering appellations_ not only the application of industri work be Benedict Anderson (1972), respected and glorified notions; its alised Western definitions of language The extent to which the changes in "The Idea of Power in Javanese Cul value has certainly outweighed the and human beings globally, but we also the past century affected confidence ture." These works are examples of importance of being nJawani or keep see a Western mode of language prac in the old cosmology can be imagined studies attempting to raise funda ing one's budi bahasa. tice (in Becker's coinage, 'languaging') from this account: mental questions that still need fur A case in point that best illustrates occupying the dominant positions in By 1900, however, Yogyakarta and Sura ther critical exploration. With a few the experience of contemporary Bahasa the global social hierarchy. Western karta were, above all, railway junctions exceptions, studies of 'language' and Indonesia is the impressive widespread along the trunk-line between the great languages become the model for languages in Indonesia seem to be of the pronoun Anda, after the English port cities of Batavia and Surabaya. These language studies. There now seems to less aware and critical of the general pronoun 'yoU.'4 The word was intro cities in tum were subordinates to the be a high correlation between student's Hague; and the Hague was the capital of practice of imposing Western concept duced with the specific aim to stamp achievement of mastering Indonesian a speck on the northwest periphery of and theories to analyse existing 're Oll t and replace the many existing op and English (see Komp~, 1984), While Europe '" there was no longer any place alities' in Indonesian commulU ties. tions for second person pronouns, or person whereby the Cosmos could be painfully unlearning their own traditi (It must be admitted that although which modernists often have perceived nailed. In colonial classrooms cheap metal ons, indigenous communities began to this article is intended to be a critical as confusing and 'non-democratic' in globes were being happily spun by seven learn what appears to be the more po reflection on Western domination, character. In the 1970s a colleague of year-olds. werful and more promising 'knowledge' it is undoubtedly also a product of mine collected over 50 different se Ba(ha)sa was under a great and grow and 'truth' available in Western global Western-style training.) cond-person pronouns in use in the ing threat. "In the 1890s the colonial languages and world-views. As we shall see, this Westcrnisation small town of Salatiga, each designating regime for the first time began a sus The shift of fundamental meanings is not totally covert or subtle. Neither a different interpersonal relationship. tained effort to turn local elites bi- or of Bahasa from being specifically J a is its conquest taking place without The successful promotion of Anda can trilingual through the institution of vanese or Malay into that of being a resistance. For the moment, we only not be fully explained merely in terms government primary and (later) se generic, abstract and universal cate need to note how this redefinition of of a cultural assertion by one section condary schools" (Anderson, 1990). gory strips off people's vernacular bahasa implies a redefinition of human of the nation's elite. Rather, it must It was no longer possible for the J a world-views. It is not a quantitative beings in the world (Williams, 1977: also be attributed to technological de vanese to ignore the newly perceived change (in addition to the familiar Ja 21) and how the new redefinition ra velopment in the expanding mass fact that Javanese was no other than vanese bhasa they now discover a num lates to Development.3 media in New Order Indonesia: messa one of many existing languages. In lieu ber of other kinds of bahasa), but a The breakdown of the old meanings ges must be communicated to a mass of the monopoly of basa in the J ava qualitative one, Speaking of both of bahasa implies a serious challange to and abstract audience. nised cosmos, people began to speak ancient and modern colonialism, the former image of esteemed human As bahasa was perceived to be a more and more of Ba(ha) sa Melayu, Becker (1984: 145) notes that one of beings. Nowadays, one's failure in per generic category and a global phenome 'Malay,' ba(ha) sa Belanda, 'Dutch: its most subtle forces "is the under forming the proper bahasa as indicating non, so persons became individual and later Bahasa Indonesia, 'Indone· mining of not just the substance but sian.' It is now common for Javanese the framework of someone's learning." to speak of Bahasa fawa, 'J avanese.' The Western domination in bahasa is 3 For the next few paragraphs 1 am in- 4 I have written a critical reflection on debted to the insight of Ivan IIIich (1982). the use of Anda (Heryanto, 1978). 48 PRISMA 50, SEPTEMBER 1990 Downloaded from
human beings and vernacular commu· synonym, 'Development', in which the same universally standardised and outsiders. Neither budi bahasa nor nities were transformed into a nation, Western world still dominates but no scarce attainments. As industrialisation being nJawani was economically scarce. a new conceptual category. In sum, in longer exclusively so. In world capi has developed hand·in-hand with capi· [n the contemporary language of Deve· contrast to the major features of ver· talism, industrialisation requires talism, communities across the globe lopment, exclusive and distinct verna· nacular worlds discussed above, stan· standardisation to make mass produc: have been made to consider greed as cular values are disappearing. dardisation, abstraction and globalisa· lion and market exchange faster, easier respectable (Benjamin, 1988: 13). The early years of Indonesian nation· tion now characterises our industri· and more economical. Consequently, Equity is now seen to mean (re.) dis· building witnessed ,he beginning of a alised environment. progress demands the demise of diver· tribution of the new privilege to con· phenomenal proliferation of new words se and vernacular activities, social sume what is scarce. Not· only are all circumfixed by ke· ·an and pe(rJ- ·an The Rise of institutions and worldviews. of us defined as human beings, but (Poedjosoedarmo, 1981: 155), a ten· Developmentalism This is not to romanticise the bygone also as homo economicus, or its dency which Alisjahbana (1976: 58) and what - at a distance - appears extreme extension, homo industrialis considers a desirable indication of the The global standardisation of what exotic. Many modern schooled Javane (DIich, 1979). Even words and mean· modernisation of Bahasa Indonesia. were formerly exclusive and he~eroge. se accept the pervasive condemnation ings have become 'scarce' industrial These circumfixes are nominalisers, neous beings lay the foundations for in Indonesia to the effect that Javanese commodities in a way which would significantly referring to abstraction what in subsequent years became De· traditional culture was where inequity have been unthinkable in the commu· and generalisation. The construction of velopment programmes. Advancing was nurtured and democracy denied. It nities of the Indies archipelago during Pembangunan in early decades of this the idea of modernisation and standar· must be acknowledged that some of the the past century. Prerequisites which century .was only a case in point.5 That disation of Bahasa Indonesia, Alisjah· Developmentalists' criticism of tradi· were formerly only sensible in limited word re-presents the old communities bana (1976: 59) "consider[s) the tional culture is important and well· activities, such as construction and anew, as one of many 'developing' na· plurality of languages in the modern taken. The point is that having claimed industry, are now regarded by the tions on the globe. world ... a great handicap. It hampers ... to liberate millions of people from former head of the nation's language Communities of human beings across understanding between individuals as 'backwardness' and to bring equity, centre as indispensable requirements the globe arc put in a hierarchy by well as nations." He asserts this with democracy and enlightenment, Deve· for sustaining Bahasa Indonesia: "man· their degree of industrial Development. full awareness that standardised lao lopment has evidently led them to power, material, management, and Some arc commonly termed 'underde· nguage entails standardised general another variant of alienation, disempo. money" (Halim, 1981: 335). veloped,' others are 'developing,' and behaviour, which he values highly (Ali· werment and dependence, this time of The communities in what is now still others are already 'd'eveloped.' In sjahbana, 1976: 101). This decade an even greater scale. Once 'liberated' Indonesia are losing not only their the contemporary language of Deve· saw the imposed standardisation of from their vernacularity, Javanese or own definitions of what constitutes lopment, there is only a single phrase to traditional arts and ritual practices, Malay words can now be translated into their basic needs, but also the pro· designate the best projected possible which had long been independent of any industrial languages across the ductive competence to satisfy the future of these 'developing nations': elite engineering (see Surabaya Post, globe; the speakers became 'free' in· basic needs. They are now dependent being 'developed,' an appellation tradi· 1986: Kompas, 1986). Following the dividual wanderers whose labour is on the products of industries. They tionally identified with the modem West idea of essentially homogenous beings exchangeable in the market. can only hope to consume what they and only recently extended to some is the idea of standardised 'basic human The constitu tion and reproduction cannot produce. Significantly, Javanese other newly industrialised coun tries needs.' As Illich (1979; 1982) argues, of this hegemony relies heavily on the has one verb, (ng)gawe, to refer to in the Northern hemisphere. Seen in we have now come to a point where mass standardised consump tion of its two opposite notions in English or Ba· this light, the so-called 'New Industri· presupposed basic human needs trans· products. That mass consumption in hasa Indonesia: 'to produce', membuat, alising Countries' are posing a challenge late materially in to a set of consump· turn rests on the assump tion of 'scar· and 'to consume', memakai. But even to their Western rivals only in terms of tion patterns. Fulfillment of these basic city' of basic needs and on modern to say that (ng)gawe is both 'to produce a game the West initiated, not a radical· needs is defined as consuming an in· economics, which is based on that and consume' is inappropriate. The ex· ly alternative redefinition of living. A creasing amount of mass.produced same assumption. Thus, no longer do pression nduwe gawe, 'to have agawe,' bird's-eye view of Development Studies industrial commodities. all members of the Javanese or Malay does not simply refer to some physical literature (Goldsworthy, 1977) su~ests The usc of the term 'Western' to communities attempt to achieve self behaviour, but to a religious ritual and that critiques of conventional·mo· designate the current world hegemony defined states or being (for example, festivity. When the Javanese strove to For a further account of the t>istorical is no longer fully satisfactory. Perhaps to be njawani, or to acquire budi be fully nJawani or the Malay endea· a better term is 'industrialisation' or bahasa). They must now compete construction of the New Order keyword, voured to acquire su fficient budi baha· Pembanjp.nan. see my article, 'The Develop· its euphemistic and more value-laden with other 'human beings' for the sa, they depended on noone, let alone ment of 'Development' (Heryanto, 1988) .. 50 PRISMA 50. SEPTEMBER 1990 Downloaded from
demist Development are often followed self·conscious in confronting what Conclusion 1980: 118). Furthermore, he explains by attempts to reform. redefine. and they see as undesirably Westemised that those Indonesian writers, standard h>Tammars and studies of modify Development. De-Development Westernisation of the Indonesian regarded themselves as intellectual. in the and anti.Development are hardly ever Bahasa Indonesia. Throughout the language has long been a point of true sense of the word ... they did not want considered. history of the nation, the idea of in complaint among some circles of the to give the impression that they were not Other forms of resistance and defen· digenising the national language has nation's emergent literati. However, ilfquainted with the sophistication of the ce on the part of the Indonesian com· been expressed repeatedly, but, as is for the more aggressive' and influen Western ideas. They even regarded them· selves as legitimate heirs of world culture ... munities are worth considering. 6 Much eviden t, to little avail.? Some of the tial intellectuals, for whom Sutan [and they] by and large wrote carefully· of James Siegel's (1986) observation of most important and common concerns Takdir Alisjahbana became a key thought out Indonesian prose because they the Javanese in Surakarta during the among these critical intellectuals, spokesman, Westernisation was not took pains to do so relying m