Rethinking Globalization, Reclaiming the Local: A Post-Colonial Perspective of English Language Education in Indonesia

Abstract

The Western intellectual hegemony in the educational domain in Indonesia has been very obvious, especially in the establishment of the controversial international pilot project schools and schools with international standard in Indonesia. This provides clear evidence that the hegemonic power of the colonizer is at work, as it has been allowed to seep into the country's education system. This paper seeks to show that the Indonesian government's efforts to internationalize the national education system cannot be separated from what is often referred to as the "discourse of globalization", manifested (in this case) primarily through the fetish of English language education. It examines the current educational practice in Indonesia, which is situated in this discourse of globalization in the light of a post-colonial perspective. It also seeks to unravel the Western intellectual determinism formulated in the policy regarding the goal of SB1, which has sparked protracted debates among scholars and educational practitioners.