Travel Tips

The language policy in our country is still perceived
as being anchored in unknown seas. The adoption of the
Portuguese language as one of the two official
languages of our country has left most of our
Indonesian educated citizens wondering about their own
chances of playing an effective role in the country.
Tetum has also been adopted as an official language,
but whether it will become a modernized and
standardized language remains to be seen.

Our Government up till now is yet to produce an
integrated language policy in order to clarify the
expectations of our people regarding the Tetum
language.

The justification for the use of the Portuguese
appears to be based on the grounds of identity rather
than on practical issues based on sound policy
analysis. Of the four languages in use in our country,
the non-official languages still play a key role as
'working languages' of Timor Leste.

A language survey conducted by the University Mau Lear
showed that 70 % of our population favors the use of
the Indonesian language in schools, stating that the
language was not a problem during the occupation, and
that "the problem was the military." This same
language survey recommended the modernization of
Tetum. 5% of our population, mostly the elderly, could
speak Portuguese, while only 2% of this 5% could read
and write the Portuguese language.

English and Bahasa Indonesia are expected to flourish
due to the fact that the language is used extensively
throughout the region. The predominant use of Tetum,
English and Bahasa Indonesia in the Government among
the staff and in the commercial realm since after
independence has proved the practical need for the
Government to increase its efforts in improving the
use of Tetum and English.

The language policy has created many problems in our
country. One of these problems is the fact that only
those who speak Portuguese can be considered for key
posts in the Government, arguably whether or not they
are qualified for those posts.

The members of the Constituent Assembly, most of whom
have gone on to join our National Parliament or
Government, made the worst mistake in the history of
our country when they enshrined Portuguese as one of
our two official languages. The Government and
Parliament have since failed to follow the associated
provision in our constitution for the development of
Tetum as a national language. This failure has
contributed to the slow pace of development in our
country.

Internal solidarity amongst the citizens themselves
has never been strong in the use of the Portuguese
language; it is clear that the Government is not
keeping the population in mind, when it is capable of
taking decisions that would only benefit a few.

The question of whether an official language is widely
spoken by the population is crucial - what is the need
of a language if it is not for communication? The
language race in our country is one of the biggest
problems of our time.

In the postcolonial era under the transitional
administration, the language debate became harsher and
harsher. The reason for that was not a question of
whether the Portuguese or Indonesian languages were in
themselves a problem, but that our leaders failed to
study the situation carefully in determining the
language policy.

The choice of Portuguese as an Official language has
severely harmed our expectations of empowering our
people to a participatory democracy to become truly
independent. Our young generation, who grew up under
Indonesian rule and who never had the opportunity to
leave our country to reach the outside world are now
threatened by the use of Portuguese. To find jobs and
to effectively participate in political life and in
the building of our nation seems to be reserved for
those who went to Portugal, Angola, Mozambique and
Brazil and those belonging to the older generations.

As our young generation learned and increasingly uses
Bahasa Indonesian, Tetum also evolved through
teaching, preaching, and pop music that even reached
to the Timorese communities in the Diaspora.

The need to save our culture and the promotion of
Tetum as a language should be a top priority. The
resistance movement was in the Tetum language, Tetum
also is an expression of our national identity as well
as an instrument against the process of
"Indonesianisation" Indonesian cultural assimilation

At our schools, the government has adopted a phasing-
out policy whereby the Indonesian language will be
phased out and the Portuguese language will be
integrated into the main curricula. What about Tetum
and English that needs to be developed?

The Government should show commitment to overcome
these gaps; the real issue is what the language is
for. English and Indonesian will still be involved due
to the fact that there is much trade with Indonesian
and many interactions with the international
communities.

Asia uses English, Australia and New Zealand also use
English and our young generations are now using
English and the need for knowledge of this language is
real and present. Our Government should learn from
Malaysia - who threw English out the window after the
departure of the British only to later reintegrate
English into the school system.

The speed of the language race in our country will
depend, however, on the concrete policies of the
Government which until to day have still remained non
existent. The Government should study the practical
needs of our people by the impact of foreign presence
and investment in the country to consider which of
these languages need more attention.

- Christopher -
Published in Timor Post on September 29, 2003