Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

common language (see Lee and Suryadinata, 2007). Particularly in mainland
Southeast Asia, where modern states trace their origins to ancient kingdoms,
language and nationhood tend to be closely aligned in curricular rhetoric, with
the national language presented as both an object of and vehicle for sentiments
of pride. For example, the Khmer language curriculum for Cambodian primary
school students, is tasked with improving students’ ‘ability, personal quality, selfrespect,
self-confidence, daily learning, and pride of their own nation’ 60 (Basic
Curriculum for Primary Education, 1996, p. 7). Similarly, the Vietnamese language
curriculum proclaims instilling love for the Vietnamese language, literature and
culture of Viet Nam as a prime objective.
However, neither in mainland nor in archipelagic Southeast Asia do linguistic
and national boundaries neatly align, so that curriculum developers everywhere
must somehow address issues relating to linguistic diversity. Some states, such
as Viet Nam, have relatively extensive provision of mother tongue instruction for
minorities, at least at elementary level (see Dang, 2010); others, such as Myanmar
and Thailand, evince problems with the integration of minorities into mainstream
public schooling, an issue bound up with a reluctance to acknowledge some border
populations as legitimate national citizens. 61 The cases of Thailand and Myanmar
illustrate how the issue of recognising and teaching minority languages is often
closely intertwined with issues relating to the delineation of nationhood and
national boundaries. This underlines the potential value of encouraging students
to study the languages (and cultures) of bordering nations, since resolving
problems facing minorities often depends on detoxifying poisoned relationships
with close national neighbours. But opportunities for Vietnamese, for example,
to study Khmer as a foreign language, or for Cambodians to study Vietnamese or
Thai, remain vanishingly small.
A multicultural and multi-ethnic archipelago, Indonesia is home to over 200 local
languages and dialects. However, in the wake of the World Wars and the ending
of Dutch occupation, Bahasa Indonesia came to be regarded by the leaders of
independent Indonesia as a critical tool for constructing a consciousness of
national unity (Simpson, 2007). The Constitution states that ‘Bahasa Negara ialah
Bahasa Indonesia’ (The national language shall be Indonesian [Bahasa Indonesia])
(Article 36, 1945), with no acknowledgement of the minority languages. This
nationalist approach has contributed to threats to the existence of local and
regional vernaculars, some of which are slowly dying out (Musgrave, 2014) —
their extinction also serving as testimony to the successful implementation
of national language policies. However, awareness of the threat to Indonesia‘s
linguistic diversity has prompted moves to amend the Constitution and enact
new laws. Article 32 of the amended constitution stipulates that ‘The government
60 Original in Khmer: ‘៧.ចេះពងេីកកោសល្យ គុណសម្បតិ្តខ្លួន គោរពខ្លួនឯងមានទំនុកចិត្តលើខ្លួនឯង
ចូលចិត្តរៀនសូតេជាបេចាំ ហើយមានមោទនភាពជាតិជានិច្ច។’.
61 See https://www.burmalink.org/background/thailand-burma-border/displaced-in-thailand/
refugee-camps/.
Rethinking Schooling for the 21 st Century:
The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia
127