S

span class="inline inline-left">Since the demise of the noted Indonesian language experts Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana and Anton M. Moeliono, not many Indonesian language scholars have been passionate in devoting their profession to issues on the politics of language and language planning.

The absence of studies and published research related to these central topics speaks volumes and many local language pundits seem to be ignorant of the importance of bringing these topics to the fore.

In most multilingual communities, language planning is deemed vital for language maintenance, language reform, language standardization, language revitalization, and language modernization.

Although, admittedly, language planning is hardly a novel topic of discussion within the field of linguistics, its relevance to other separate, yet related disciplines such as education, language teaching, sociology, and literacy cannot be downplayed.

Alwasilah’s contribution through the publication of Pokoknya Rekayasa Literasi (Nothing but Literacy Engineering) is very opportune indeed. This is especially true, given that the policy of language education in Indonesia has recently been in limbo.

The book reflects its author’s great concerns over the fate of national education, which he observes has gone astray and been swept away by the global current. Alwasilah fears that Indonesia’s wealth of local geniuses as well as local wisdom will come to an end, unless they are made use of as a solid foundation for the system of national education.

This fear is based on his observation that “national education […] fails to nurture students with the knowledge and life skills necessary for a meaningful and harmonious life in the context of multicultural Indonesia”.

Without nullifying the values of Western culture and educational products, which have gradually seeped into local language, culture and education, Alwasilah begs the reader to be tough-minded in dealing with new ideas, not in just simply blindly adopting these products.

The thesis he proposes in this book is the important notion of ethnopedagogy, which he defines as “a kind of education which is based on local wisdom”. To keep abreast of the demands of the modern global world, Alwasilah is cognizant of the fact that this may sound obsolete, saying instead that this type of education needs continuous reinterpretation in light of the challenges it may face in this modern changing world.

What is enlightening to the reader is the re-conceptualization of the term literacy. Viewing the conventional term of literacy as simplistic, Alwasilah redefines the term by delineating six fundamental principles of literacy — principles which clearly extend the traditional scope of literacy.

This reorientation of literacy is deliberately highlighted so that the reader will be aware that being literate in their own language and culture is a must because it can serve as a powerful tool for countering and resisting the language hegemony and imperialism imposed by other languages and cultures.

Thus, the maintenance and then the empowerment of local wisdom (i.e. the revitalization of local language and the promotion of local culture among others) is seen as the best cultural strategy to strike a balance against the dominance of other languages and cultures.

No less important is the insight of the author’s proposal of liberal education. Seemingly discontent with the present system of national education, Alwasilah tries to open the eyes of the reader to the urgency of liberal education to be applied in the country.

This book, it goes without saying, offers a wealth of factual details regarding the problems of the national education system in general and language education in particular. Samples essays on the relevant topics discussed are provided in each chapter, further enriching the readers’ insights into the topic.

What’s more, written by an author hailing from Sundanese ethnicity, this book contains a genuine and critical voice of a scholar from the periphery, and therefore deserves to be heard by either other periphery scholars or scholars from the center. It is also an important reference for policy makers and language pundits.

Yet, readers, especially those from other languages and cultures, may cast a suspicion that the book is too Sundanese-centric, exclusively exposing cases of the Sundanese language and culture and bringing varied perspectives from this language and culture.

As such, it behoves them to critically weigh pieces of evidence and examples offered by the author and to question the assumptions proposed by virtue of their culture, language, and literacy tradition.

Pokoknya Rekayasa Literasi
(Nothing but Literacy Engineering)
A. Chaedar Alwasilah
Kiblat, 2012
280 pages