rocky path towards an integrated community

8/18/2019 Rocky Path Towards an Integrated Community

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MIDTERM EXAM – IR IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

BOBBY HIZKIA

CLASS A / 2014330037

0019

1

Rocky Path toward an Integrated Community:

The Problem(s) of ASEAN Language Proposal

Introduction

In promoting connectivity within Southeast Asia region, one of the determinant factors is

communication between people across borders. When speaking about communication, one could not

diminish the discussion of language, considering that language plays vital role as the medium of

communication. Therefore, despite the fact of its main function in communication, language could also

become communication barrier when one fails to understand other’s language. Language will also play

role in the process of ASEAN integration. People with same language have tendency to be united

because it helps promoting sense of belonging among them. I argue that language aspect is one of the

barriers towards ASEAN’s integration.

Although consists of ten Southeast Asian states, the language policy of ASEAN doesn’t reflect

the local cultures and traditions of the region. Instead, it adopts a language from which Huntington’s

called as Western civilization: English language. Formed in 1997 with the basis of Bangkok Declaration,

ASEAN does not mention languages at all on its official establishment document. Until the introduction

of ASEAN Charter in 2007, English has always been the official and working language of the organization

without any legal and formal basis.1 However, the policy of English as lingua franca of ASEAN is

formalized since the Charter is adopted in December 2008, which in the article 34, stated that:

‘The working language of ASEAN shall be English.’2

In his 2010’s writing, Kirkpatrick argued that ‘although Article 2 of the Charter lists, as one of its

principles, ‘respect for the different languages of the peoples of ASEAN’ there is no mention of a

regional language or language education policy through which this respect for the different languages

might be realized’.3 By this, it means English would most likely be used as the ‘universal ASEAN

1 Andy Kirkpatrick, “English as the official working language of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN): Features and strategies,” English Today 94, Vol. 24, No. 2 (June 2008), page 27, accessed March 9, 2016,

downloaded from http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/10072/41911/1/73966_1.pdf . 2 The ASEAN Charter, “Article 34 Working Language of ASEAN,” ASEAN Secretariat, January 2008, page 29.

3 Kirkpatrick, “English as the official working language of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN):

Features and strategies,” page 27.

http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/10072/41911/1/73966_1.pdfhttp://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/10072/41911/1/73966_1.pdfhttp://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/10072/41911/1/73966_1.pdfhttp://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/10072/41911/1/73966_1.pdf


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language’ and this will affect the journey of ASEAN Community. However, I identify some of the

problems regarding English within the context of ASEAN’s language policy related to the connectivity of

ASEAN people. First, that majority of people do not have ability to speak English, the policy will not work

well. How come English could be the official language when people seem still do not understand it?

Second, there would be a gap between the countries that speak English and countries that do not.

Certain countries in ASEAN that speak English fluently will be disproportionately advantaged by ASEAN

Economic Community policy of free flow of labor.4 If so, further economic disparities will likely occur

between ASEAN members and their citizens.5 Third, in line with Kirkpatrick’s argument, the local

languages of Southeast Asians would be in the threat of extinction. If one day English is already

formalized within ASEAN (without further policy of conserving local languages), the people would mostly

speak English and there would be probability of people leaving their actual mother tongue. By this, it

means that Southeast Asia would have lesser unique diversity.

Then, what is the solution of those problems? The idea of inventing ASEAN language sounds

good. Is it? Throughout this essay, I will point some of my arguments limited to why it is impossible (or

at least very difficult) to introduce so-called ASEAN language. I will focus on the diversity and

heterogeneity of societies within ASEAN and the uneven distribution of education as another factor of

complex language problem in ASEAN. Eventually, this language problem will directly affect ASEAN,

specifically hampering its efforts toward integration.

The Proposal of ASEAN Language

Recently, due to the problems of English as stated above, there has been a discussion of

introducing ASEAN language. Many (especially Indonesian) suggest that Bahasa Indonesia should be the

unifying language of ASEAN. Suhartono, a language expert from Universitas Negeri Surabaya, argue that

‘Bahasa Indonesia had been studied in many countries, easy to master, rapidly developing, and most

words in Bahasa Indonesia also exists in other ASEAN languages’.6 Other argue that it is because of

4 Oliver S. Crocco and Nattiya Bunwirat, “English in ASEAN: Key Effects,” International Journal of the Computer,

the Internet and Management Vol.22 No.2 (May-August, 2014) pp. 22-27, accessed March 11, 2016, downloaded

from www.ijcim.th.org/past_editions/2014V22N2/5Page_22-27.pdf . 5 Ibid.

6 “Expert Supports Bahasa Indonesia to be Language of ASEAN ,” TEMPO, January 8, 2016, accessed March 11,

2016, downloaded from http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/01/08/055734251/Expert-Supports-Bahasa-

Indonesia-to-be-Language-of-ASEAN.

http://www.ijcim.th.org/past_editions/2014V22N2/5Page_22-27.pdfhttp://www.ijcim.th.org/past_editions/2014V22N2/5Page_22-27.pdfhttp://www.ijcim.th.org/past_editions/2014V22N2/5Page_22-27.pdfhttp://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/01/08/055734251/Expert-Supports-Bahasa-Indonesia-to-be-Language-of-ASEANhttp://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/01/08/055734251/Expert-Supports-Bahasa-Indonesia-to-be-Language-of-ASEANhttp://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/01/08/055734251/Expert-Supports-Bahasa-Indonesia-to-be-Language-of-ASEANhttp://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/01/08/055734251/Expert-Supports-Bahasa-Indonesia-to-be-Language-of-ASEANhttp://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/01/08/055734251/Expert-Supports-Bahasa-Indonesia-to-be-Language-of-ASEANhttp://www.ijcim.th.org/past_editions/2014V22N2/5Page_22-27.pdf


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Indonesia is the most populous country in ASEAN, with the population of more than 200 million.7

However, I argue that the proposal of ASEAN language, whatever it is that comes from one of the

member states, is a no: it would not likely happen for several years forward.

First, we should consider the fact of multilingualism among ASEAN members. The region is

basically a very multilingual area, consists of twelve states (including Papua New Guinea and East Timor)

with major spoken languages come from five different language families: Sino-Tibetan (Thai, Lao,

Burmese, Chinese), Austronesian (Malay, Bahasa Indonesia, Tagalog, Ilocano, Cham), Austro-Asiatic

(Mon-Khmer, Vietnamese), Papuan (Timor), and Indo-European (English).8 ASEAN people speak different

languages, and even within a country, there are various languages that come from different language

families! For example, Laotians that speak Lao might not understand other Laotians who speak Mon-

Khmer who live in the mountainous region. ASEAN people might have difficulties in accepting the new

creation of ASEAN language. The acceptance in this context does not underpin the ‘willingness’ aspect of

the people, but more about the ‘adaptiveness’ of the people to the language. Compared to ASEAN,

European Union would likely succeed when it comes to promote inter-understanding and adaptiveness

between the languages, considering the fact that there are many similarities among Indo-European

languages, for example between Portuguese and Spanish, French and Italian, Dutch and Swedish, and so

on.9 Naturally, the locals of ASEAN lack of shared-words between their languages.

Second, we should consider the ‘has-not-been-ending-experience’ of ASEAN in promoting

English. Spreading English throughout the whole region is a big unfinished homework for ASEAN. English

is indeed one of major languages spoken in Southeast Asia, however, only four out of ten ASEAN

member states use it as their common language, which are Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and the

Philippines. They share same historical detail in terms of the ‘mother tongue’ of their ‘conquerors’, with

the fact that Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei were British colonies and the Philippines once ruled by

USA. Myanmar is the exception (although once was a British colony), considering that its policy of

isolation has made English less spoken in daily life. The other five countries do not have English as their

7 Dwi Murdaningsih, “Ini Alasan Bahasa Indonesia Layak Jadi Pengantar di ASEAN,” Republika, January 25, 2016,

accessed March 11, 2016, downloaded from

http://www.republika.co.id/berita/pendidikan/eduaction/16/01/25/o1i0if368-ini-alasan-bahasa-indonesia-layak-

jadi-pengantar-di-asean. 8 John Hartmann, ”Outline: Spoken and Written Languages of Southeast Asia ,” Crossroads, accessed March 11,

2016, downloaded from http://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/hartmann/hartmann.htm. 9 Nicole Stansley, “How Similar (and Different) Are European Languages,” Omniglot , accessed March 11, 2016,

downloaded from http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/europeanlanguagecomparison.htm.

http://www.republika.co.id/berita/pendidikan/eduaction/16/01/25/o1i0if368-ini-alasan-bahasa-indonesia-layak-jadi-pengantar-di-aseanhttp://www.republika.co.id/berita/pendidikan/eduaction/16/01/25/o1i0if368-ini-alasan-bahasa-indonesia-layak-jadi-pengantar-di-aseanhttp://www.republika.co.id/berita/pendidikan/eduaction/16/01/25/o1i0if368-ini-alasan-bahasa-indonesia-layak-jadi-pengantar-di-aseanhttp://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/hartmann/hartmann.htmhttp://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/hartmann/hartmann.htmhttp://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/hartmann/hartmann.htmhttp://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/europeanlanguagecomparison.htmhttp://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/europeanlanguagecomparison.htmhttp://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/europeanlanguagecomparison.htmhttp://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/europeanlanguagecomparison.htmhttp://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/hartmann/hartmann.htmhttp://www.republika.co.id/berita/pendidikan/eduaction/16/01/25/o1i0if368-ini-alasan-bahasa-indonesia-layak-jadi-pengantar-di-aseanhttp://www.republika.co.id/berita/pendidikan/eduaction/16/01/25/o1i0if368-ini-alasan-bahasa-indonesia-layak-jadi-pengantar-di-asean


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common language. Countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam have only their elites and some educated

people speak English, while Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand are considered having low levels of

English. So, approximately it’s less than half of Southeast Asians that could speak English fluently.

Therefore, it is crystal clear that while English struggles to be accepted by Southeast Asia’s locals, Bahasa

Indonesia or other Southeast Asian languages – the ‘less-universalistic language in nature’ – would likely

not be accepted by most of ASEAN people.

Third, it is related to the technical matter. Seeing the uneven distribution of basic education, or

uneven distribution of English education in many ASEAN countries, it seems that the proposal of ASEAN

language would just create another uneven distribution. There are still a lot of basic education problems

and English – which could be said as a ‘universal’ language – is still uncommon for many students in

some of ASEAN countries. There are tons of English teachers and courses, but many people still

unfamiliar with it. How about new ASEAN language (chosen from one of ASEAN countries) that really

have distinct and uncommon characteristics? Besides, the new ASEAN language would lack of teachers

and experts to spread the language. It is also worth to note that the curriculum of the new language has

not been designed yet. Plus, some regions also remain undeveloped, which means, not an easy task to

reach them. It will take a very long time to have ASEAN language to be spread throughout the region.

Different with the first point, the last point is related with the willingness of ASEAN people to

accept the language. I do not think that – with the exception of Indonesia – the member states of ASEAN

would agree to adopt, let’s say, Bahasa Indonesia as ASEAN language. It is derived from Malay, which

Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, the Southern part of Philippines, and the Southern part of Thailand, more

closely related with Malay than Bahasa Indonesia. It is logical for other members, especially Malaysia, to

not accept Bahasa Indonesia, instead it would point out that it is more reasonable for Malay to become

ASEAN language. The other members would also not agree with the discourse of the other language to

become ASEAN language outside theirs. The lack of cohesiveness between ASEAN members could be

the barrier of choosing one of the languages to be ASEAN language, as the members still have their own

‘pride’.

Conclusion and Recommendation

From the explanations above, I conclude that as for now, ASEAN could not create the new

ASEAN language. First of all, the multilingualism of ASEAN could make the people having a long time to


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BOBBY HIZKIA

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adapt with new language. Second, while people are still struggling with English, it will only become

another burden if ASEAN language comes to force. Third, the uneven distribution of education within

ASEAN shows that the process of spreading new language would be a difficult job. And the last, the

pride and identity of each ASEAN members would keep them not to accept the other language outside

theirs.

Therefore, it is better for ASEAN to stick with its current English policy, and to design the

framework of promoting English throughout the region. Indeed, this decision has its own consequences,

especially related to the extinction of local languages. However, ASEAN could prevent it by having a

well-designed policy that includes the curriculum of local languages as well. So, is it possible for having

the ASEAN language? It’s a no for several years forward!

rocky path towards an integrated community

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