In my tuition center’s library, I came across a book titled Indonesia Etc., which was written by a British woman Elizabeth Pisani. She found Indonesia really intriguing and described it as a “bad boyfriend”, which seems to be an affectionate term but it implies how strange, illogical and exotic Indonesians are. People may have different views on Indonesia, but such a depiction can affect the image of our country in the eyes of many people.

In the same library, there are other books including Jakarta Jive, Bali Blues, a novel written by Jeremy Allan, and Contemporary Developments in Indonesian Islam by Martin Van Bruinstein.

These books are aimed to inform others about Indonesia. However, the fact that many books about Indonesia in English are published and written by foreigners, it should make us reflect on our education.

(Read also: Whither Indonesian social scientists?)

Indonesian students of schools that use English as its primary language should be encouraged to write more about our country. Unfortunately, the evidence that I found shows the opposite.

There was a time when a friend of mine got a non-satisfying grade because he incorporated some Indonesian terms in his narrative composition and those words were encircled, even though he had already provided a clear explanation about their meaning. Similarly, however, I heard that a graduate from my school used French expressions in her writing but, surprisingly, it was allowed as it gave the story a sense of place.

I believe that teachers don’t allow students to use Indonesian terms because they want us to practice English, but they cannot “ban” us from doing so when we have clearly explained the meaning of the phrases.

We can express our concern on Indonesia through writing in another language. One great example of this is Kartini, an early Indonesian woman activist. She wrote so much about her thoughts and experience living as a Javanese woman in the colonial era. Although she wrote in Dutch, she still had a great sense of nationalism as she wrote about Indonesian culture and her thoughts of Indonesia.

(Read also: 12 Indonesian books you should add to your reading list)

In Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s book, Panggil Aku Kartini Saja (Just Call Me Kartini), she elaborated her view on gamelan, “Gamelan never cheers; even in exuberant parties, we can still hear the gamelan’s solemn voice; maybe it’s supposed to be like that. Life is a solemn voice, not a cheerful choir.”

Her statement implied that she was proud of gamelan, a traditional Javanese musical instrument, as it was a metaphor of how people’s life should be. Not only did she express pride of her culture, she also criticized her own people.

In her letter to EC Abendanon, she made a suggestion to improve Indonesian education, “That is what I want in the field of education, character-molding should at least be given attention to and most importantly the teaching of perseverance." This suggests that Kartini was worried that education without arts would dismiss the teaching of character.

Pramoedya stated that culture reflected the character and the way of life of its nation. By writing about our own culture and tradition in English, we were introducing ourselves to the world with our own voice.

Writings could also become a tool to influence others as what Tjokroaminoto had done. He had written for the newspaper, OetosanHindia, to support the movement of Sarekat Islam. He mostly wrote about politics, law and socialism from an Islamic perspective. His writings had helped to strengthen the people’s support for him as a leader and inspired Sukarno, Indonesia’s first president, to practice his writing skills.

Looking up to Tjokroaminoto, Sukarno adopted Tjokroaminoto’s style and wrote about approximately 500 articles that were published in the newspaper. He mostly wrote about the colonized citizens and the greedy government. His writings later became topics of discussion and conversation among the people and influenced other peoples’ thoughts and perspectives.

Schools seem to rarely introduce to their students Indonesian literature or books discussing Indonesian history and culture. Except once, when an American teacher introduced us to Pramoedya Ananta Toer who turned out to be one of Indonesia’s greatest writers. He suggested us to read his books as he said the plots are interesting and that it could help us understand how people of our country lived in the past.

(Read also: Tumblr blogs to follow for aspiring writers)

My teacher also often helps us practice our writing skills while using materials about Indonesia’s history or culture. This is how I began to understand the importance of being able to inform others about our culture through writing. The more I know about these things, the more I am beginning to realize how interesting it is to learn about our own country.

There are a lot of perspectives on how someone may recount events in the past, and I find it fascinating to be able to understand their thoughts or imagine being in their position at that time.

For every English test, we are required to write a composition. But why can’t we use the chance to write about our own country’s culture and history? A lot of students tend to infuse American views, like brands, style, events and routines in their writing for the plot or characterization. We should be able to talk about our experience as Indonesians as what Kartini had done. Most of our teachers are foreigners, so we also could influence them to understand our country better.

Not only do students learn from teachers, but we can learn from each other as learning is not restricted by age – it’s a never ending process.

By incorporating a drip of our culture in our writings, we can provide anyone who reads it a taste. This could then initiate a cycle where more and more people will start writing using our unique traditions, where then more and more books about Indonesia can be published, so more and more people can learn about our great history and culture.

***

Student at an international school in Jakarta. She enjoys travelling and exploring all the things the world has to offer. Michelle can be found at @avery_laird.

---------------

Interested to write for Youth channel at thejakartapost.com? We are looking for information and opinions from students with appropriate writing skills. The content must be original on the following topics: passion, leadership, school, lifestyle (beauty, fashion, food), entertainment, science & technology, health, social media, and sports. Send your piece to [email protected]

Your premium period will expire in 0 day(s) close x Subscribe to get unlimited access Get 50% off now

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.