1.1 On Not Feeling Foreign in One's Own Capital City

Officially in Indonesia, signs in public must be written in Indonesian 'except where local or foreign languages are necessary'. This is written in the national law on language, Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia 24/2009, the slogan of which states that Indonesian people must 'love' their local languages, 'use' their national language, and 'study' foreign languages (with extra emphasis on English). This is not the first legislation that states such: the government has frequently threatened to impose fines on people or companies who have placed other languages – 'domestic' or 'foreign' – onto their public signs (Dardjowidjojo, 1998; Heryanto, 1995; Kitamura, 2012). Ariel Heryanto (1995) documented state assignment of fines for English on Jakarta signboards prior to 1995, and in 2010, some 15 years subsequent to Heryanto's report, I asked an employee of the national Pusat Bahasa (Language Center, now called the Badan Bahasa), about the use of English on signboards in the nation's capital city. He described to me that it was indeed prudent to discourage the use of English on signboards because rural people would not appreciate coming to Jakarta and subsequently feeling diasingkan [foreignized] in their own capital city.

I employ this brief anecdote, which took place in May 2010, as well as the quote above it, in reference to the policyand penalty-driven state formation processes that Indonesia has undergone since it gained national independence.