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re you a patriot? Why do you feel you need to defend the uniqueness of Indonesia and the way of life of its people?

Any Indonesian who has lived overseas will have been asked these questions — sometimes explicitly, but more often subtly — by curious compatriots at home, who might wonder how one could possibly be devoted to a place so far away.

There are so many answers to these questions, but they are all emotional — family, friends, childhood place, cultural ties, a yearning for comfort, food, habits, familiar chaos, traditions — how do you explain something that can only be sensed? Then there are memories, experiences and knowledge of the place once called “home” — in some cases, these are fondly remembered; in others, not so much.

What better way to feel good than to do what you can, to the best of your ability, to make sure the place of fond memories does not change, or that the place of unpleasant experiences does change for the better? Then, when these things happen, you rejoice from the other side of the world and cheer as loudly as if you were living in the country. That is patriotism.

But what if overseas Indonesians were to ask their non-overseas compatriots the same question: would you go above and beyond your duty to defend the uniqueness of Indonesia and the way of life of its people? In fact, would you recognise change in Indonesia if it happened around you, and would you do something about it?

Indonesia has transformed so much in so many ways over the past few decades, but one of the most significant changes seems to be the widespread use of English — or rather, English words — in daily speech.

The big push a few decades ago to use Bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar (good and correct Indonesian) appears to have been all but forgotten as public figures — including officials, celebrities and media people — liberally sprinkle their speeches with English words. Sometimes the words are used and pronounced correctly and other times they are not, but they are most noticeable in unprepared speeches and interviews.

Meanwhile, the use of “good and correct Indonesian” by the exact same figures has been inconsistent. These days, it’s hard to find spontaneous speeches containing complete, conjunction- or clause-carrying sentences that correctly use prefixes, such as me- and di-, and lead with a subject followed by a predicate and an object (as every student should have learned at junior high school level).

Instead, one is more likely to encounter messages that are delivered either in short, incoherent bursts, or through long-winded ramblings — both of which are dangerously open to interpretation once broadcast by the media. Add to that a layer of ambiguity, possibly created when speeches like these appear in print form and punctuation marks are used incorrectly, and you have yet another change in meaning or emphasis.

While Indonesians living in Indonesia may not consider the situation as being quite so dire, the view from the outside is significantly different.

A group of Indonesian native speakers residing in Perth, Western Australia, for example, considered the situation serious enough to warrant their participation in an Indonesian speech contest late last month.

Held by the Indonesian Consulate General in Perth, participants were challenged to use “good and correct Indonesian” throughout their speech and dispose of all English terminology.

According to the event’s initiator, Dani Sarwono, the event was aimed at discouraging the use of English in Indonesian speeches; replacing English words with Indonesian; familiarizing native speakers with new Indonesian vocabulary; and encouraging Indonesians in Perth to maintain their love for their mother tongue.

“The contestants had to think of the most accurate and most succinct way to express themselves in Indonesian. Most of them admitted after their speech that it was very hard to remember not to use English,” Dani said.

That night, about 40 Indonesian native speakers, whose length of residency in Australia ranged from several months to three decades, had a go at answering questions such as “Tell us about your most memorable holiday in Australia” in three-minute unprepared talks. Surprisingly, the period away from Indonesia did not seem to correspond with participants’ fluency in Indonesian.

Asked to explain why the use of Indonesian appeared to be in decline, particularly among young people in Indonesia, one contestant said eloquently in perfect Indonesian: “It starts with the parents and the expectations they place on their children. If they are determined to make sure their children continue their Indonesian legacy, then they’ll do all they can to help their children learn and maintain their Indonesian.” The contestant used fewer than three English words during his speech and won third prize. He also summed up the situation perfectly.