Chinese Language in Indonesia: Its Position as a Foreign and Heritage Language

Seen from several major foreign languages offered in courses or schools in Indonesia and the prominent position of Bahasa Indonesia, an interesting point to discuss is the competition of foreign languages in Indonesia among themselves, especially Chinese and English, and their competition with Bahasa Indonesia. The discussion of the position of Chinese as a foreign language and as a heritage language in Indonesia is based on the points mentioned by Crystal (2003: 123)#65533political, economic, technological, and cultural power#65533that can affect the position of a foreign in a country.