ACQUIRING ENGLISH AT THE EXPENSE OF BAHASA INDONESIA?

As English has been increasingly gaining importance in Indonesia despite its position as a foreign language, lots of parents sacrifice their childrens privilege as the native speakers of Bahasa Indonesia to make them fluent speakers in English. A lot of questions concerning bilingualism, especially English and Indonesia, emerge. Is it worth doing? How early can Indonesian children be introduced to a foreign language, for example, English? Is it possible to use English as an introductory language in Indonesian schools? This paper will talk about the advantages of speaking a mother tongue and a national language in learning a new language using language acquisition theory. It will elaborate the advantages of using Bahasa Indonesia in learning English.