Language politics by Japan (1942-1945): Anti-Dutch sentiments and the rise of the Indonesian language

Much historical evidence describes Japan's tactics of stealing the Indonesian people's attention. These tactics started with the propaganda of affirming common ground as fellow Asians, up to the point of using the Dutch as scapegoats, consequently cornering them as mutual enemies of the Japanese and Indonesians. These actions eventually brought society to "accept" the existence of Japan in the country. Another tactic is through language politics. Language is one of the main media used by Japan in implementing the propaganda. Through it, Japan aggressively discriminated the Dutch and won the hearts of the Indonesian people. The 1928 Youth Pledge is known to be the initial foundation for the birth of the Indonesian language which is the official language of the Republic of Indonesia to this day. The Rules of Conduct (KK 30-3-1917, no. 71, Stb. No. 443) regulated the use of Dutch as the only language of instruction. A proposal for change in 1918 by Pangeran Achmad Djajadiningrat set forth within the same year, the recognition of the Indonesian language as the official language in the government, for the first time, in addition to Dutch (Kees Groeneboer, 1995: 402). The significance of this paper is the discussion that the 1928 Youth Pledge was not the only momentum that propelled the birth of Indonesian language as the official language. This paper examines language politics by Japan using a historical approach with primary sources such as archives related to language policies adopted by Japan within the period 1942-1945. It uses hegemony as a scalpel to see how at the time, language policy by Japan managed to internalize the Indonesian people whilst marginalizing the Dutch language. This authority driven language policy reveals the function of language as a medium for ideological battles. Hegemony is played by the ruling class through the manipulation of the belief system, perception, social representation, and values in a society with the aim of legitimizing the position of the social class in various aspects, including political, economic and social (Schiffman, 1996: 55). Through the Japanese language politics (1942-1945), the rise of Indonesian language during the Japanese occupation is interesting to note: there was a gradual and yet significant advance in its position.