Language Planning for Modernization: The Case of Indonesian and Malaysian

Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana is an important cultural figure in Malaysia, as well as in Indonesia, because of his early and continuing contributions to a contemporary literary language. He began his career as a leader in Indonesia's first literary movement of the 1930s. As the editor of the prominent literary magazine Pundjangga Baru (The New Poet), he wrote articles on poetry, language, and culture, and his own poetry, essays, and novels helped shape a creative language. While an early advocate of Malay-based Indonesian as the national language, Alisjahbana also argued for learning Dutch and gaining a Western education. In all his early writings, he linked Indonesian social conditions to literature, which he felt would flourish, like all of an independent Indonesia, with modernization based on a European model. He believed that writers must look forward to a future that incorporates the best of Western society. His controversial essays prompted long replies from those who wanted literature to reignite former glories. For Takdir Alisjahbana, there is no literary form more representative of the modern than the novel. Unfortunately, his literary works remain untranslated. His most notable novel, Lajar Terkembang (With Sails Unfurled), serves as a vehicle to express his polemics. Its characters highlight his Indonesian ideal of being educated, free-thinking, and responsible.