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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 11

Publication Date: November 25, 2023

DOI:10.14738/assrj.1011.15918.

Hauschildt, S. R., Wijaya, L. L., Budidharma, C., Rodiah, S., Rachmat, A., & Muchlisin, D. (2023). Sebutlah Kami Tuli: Call Us Deaf.

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(11). 277-293.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Sebutlah Kami Tuli: Call Us Deaf

Sean Ryan Hauschildt

Lamar University, Department of Deaf Studies and

Deaf Education PO BOX 10113 Beaumont, TX 77710

Laura Lesmana Wijaya

Lamar University, Department of Deaf Studies and

Deaf Education PO BOX 10113 Beaumont, TX 77710

Cristophorus Budidharma

Lamar University, Department of Deaf Studies and

Deaf Education PO BOX 10113 Beaumont, TX 77710

Siti Rodiah

Lamar University, Department of Deaf Studies and

Deaf Education PO BOX 10113 Beaumont, TX 77710

Ariani Rachmat

Lamar University, Department of Deaf Studies and

Deaf Education PO BOX 10113 Beaumont, TX 77710

Dafi Muchlisin

Lamar University, Department of Deaf Studies and

Deaf Education PO BOX 10113 Beaumont, TX 77710

ABSTRACT

Indonesia is an archipelagic nation consisting of diverse ethnicities and languages

in southeast Asia. As in all nations, one of the linguistic communities found across

the islands is made up of Deaf people. The limited research available about these

Deaf Indonesians tends to focus on the linguistics of their language, BISINDO.

However, almost nothing is known about their cultural traditions except studies

about a Deaf Village in Bali. Currently, there are ongoing discussions among Deaf

Indonesian communities in Java about Deaf identity. Most of these Deaf members

espouse a cultural view of what it means to be Deaf. The argument centers on what

is the correct term for a person who is deaf; one side of the argument is that Deaf

people have a cultural identity, expressed as tuli (Deaf) while the other side

maintains a medical view, expressed as tuna rungu (hearing impaired). These

Indonesian Deaf perspectives are shared and documented for potential future

research.

Keywords: BISINDO, Indonesia, Tuli, Identity

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 11, November-2023

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

SEBUTLAH KAMI TULI

Indonesia is an archipelago country in southeast Asia, rich in diversity, containing many

cultures, languages, and religions (Lowenberg, 1992; Paauw, 2009). However, after declaring

independence from the colonial Dutch government, the political leaders faced critical pressure

to develop an Indonesian identity that would unite people from diverse cultures across the

archipelago and suppress secessionist tendencies (Bazzi et al., 2019). The Indonesian

government opted to protect Bahasa Indonesia (the Indonesian language) because it helped to

unify Indonesians in their fight against the colonial government. Bazzi et al. (2019) stated, the

language known as;

Indonesian is rooted in a minority ethnic language (Malay) spoken by only 5 percent of the

country when it was chosen as the national language in 1928. Today, nearly everyone can speak

Indonesian. Yet, less than 20 percent choose it as the main language at home; most prefer their

native ethnic language (p. 3980).

Ironically, the Dutch colonial government adapted this language policy to keep Indonesians

under their control. The colonial government unified the islands by adopting the low variety of

Malay, which was used primarily for trade instead of enforcing Dutch (Lowenberg, 1992;

Alisjahbana, 1986).

The adoption of Malay is largely because the language is easier to learn when compared to

Javanese, which is the language of the largest ethinic community in Indonesia; the mastery of

Javanese is often reported to be complicated as it is considered to be one of the most

sophisticated languages (Paauw, 2009). The Dutch colonists recognized that if they opted to

use Javanese, other ethnic groups may feel threatened as Javanese people have a negative

perspective of other groups, particularly the Balinese people, deeming them as ‘heathen’

(Branson & Miller, 2004). This negative attitude implied that Indonesians had their own racial

issues before colonization occurred.

However, it is essential to note that due to the rich diversity in languages in the country, with

750 different local languages (Simanjuntak, 2009), Malay was chosen by locals to reduce

communication barriers (Alisjahbana, 1986; Lowenberg, 1992; Paauw, 2009). “In 1928,

nationalists at the Second All-Indonesian Youth Congress drafted a statement of unity opposing

the Dutch. They pledged allegiance to Indonesia as “satu nusa, satu bangsa, satu bahasa” (one

fatherland, one nation, one language)” (Bazzi et al, 2019, p. 3984). During the Japanese

occupation of World War II, the Japanese colonists tried to implement a Japanese language

policy, but resistance was too great. They therefore shifted their attention and helped Malay

flourish and added 7,000 new words to the lexicon; this new lexicon successfully reached the

rural areas of Indonesia. After that time, Malay was renamed Bahasa Indonesia. This experience

has helped Indonesians to realize how essential it is to have a national identity (Alisjahbana,

1986). Lingering effects of colonialism in natives can be seen in the adoption of Bahasa

Indonesia as the majority of the local people do not speak this language in their homes (Branson

& Miller, 2004). Regardless, the leaders continued a program devised by the Dutch colonial

government called transmigration in 1940 which relocated Indonesians from their birthplaces

to new locations across the archipelago (Yulmardi et al., 2020). The Indonesian government

hoped that its citizens would eventually forget their ethnic backgrounds and adopt an

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Hauschildt, S. R., Wijaya, L. L., Budidharma, C., Rodiah, S., Rachmat, A., & Muchlisin, D. (2023). Sebutlah Kami Tuli: Call Us Deaf. Advances in Social

Sciences Research Journal, 10(11). 277-293.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.1011.15918

Indonesian identity via Bahasa Indonesia along with intermarriages among different ethnic

people (Bazzi et al., 2019).

There is a parallel between Deaf and hearing Indonesians regarding Bahasa Indonesia being

used as a vehicle to develop a national identity. As Bazzi et al. (2019) stated, the younger

generations who communicate in Bahasa Indonesia at home are more likely to have a weaker

attachment to ethical identities when compared to other families who retain their local native

tongues. Similarly, the deaf education policy mandated Deaf students learn Signed Indonesian

which is called Sistem Isyarat Bahasa Indonesia (SIBI) as a method to learn the national

language. On the contrary, Palfreyman (2019) noted Deaf Indonesians seem to prefer to

converse in Bahasa Isyarat Indonesia (BISINDO). Seemingly, Deaf Indonesians experience the

identity process differently regarding their nationality and being a Deaf person, from other

hearing Indonesians, due to their language preference, which leads to a discussion of Deaf

identities.

Languages are the main component for ethnic groups to transmit traditions, rituals, norms, and

values (Ladd & Lane, 2013). Given Deaf people’s strong visual sensory abilities they naturally

have full access to signed language leading to the ability to converse and socialize freely

(Mugeere et al., 2015). Yet, the focus on the auditory sense through SIBI in contrast to the visual

sense through BISINDO leads to phonocentrism, or the valuing of speaking, which is found in

hearing professionals and societies worldwide (Johnson, 2017; Valente, 2011) over the use of

signing. For those who have phonocentric beliefs, the preference will be to use a sign system

that follows the spoken language. These preferences impact developing a Deaf identity.

Deaf Identities Across Cultures

Deaf identity was one of the earliest areas of research within Deaf Studies and this topic

continues to evolve as new theories emerge regarding Deaf people’s cultural identity as there

is no one way to be Deaf (Mcllroy & Storbeck, 2011). However, the theories are predominantly

based on a Deaf Anglo-Saxon perspective, which is not always aligned with Deaf people from

different countries (Ladd & Lane, 2013). The cultural traits that Deaf people adopt plays a role

in how they form their intersectional identities based on personal experiences including

various types of oppression, including racism, which is linked to the patriarchy (Crenshaw,

1990). Leigh (2019) stated, “identity is not merely a biological construct based on gender or

race but also a social conglomerate emanating from cognitive perceptions of sameness and

difference gleaned from environmental messages that convey labels”, (p.1). In Indonesian

history, colonization played a role in shaping Indonesian identity and culture because the

nation has not yet been independent for 100 years, leaving the ideas of the colonial past

embedded into their everyday lives. In the hope of preventing a Deaf identity, the government

wanted its citizens to acquire SIBI (Branson & Miller, 1998; Palfreyman, 2019) in order to foster

a similar national identity in Deaf citizens. Importantly, how the Indonesian society projects

these values onto marginalized members of the Indonesian society are not well-documented,

including Deaf people, which is the topic of this project.

Here the focus is on how these colonial and patriarchal values impacted Indonesian Deaf

communities and their social identity processes. Their sign languages, Bahasa Isyarat Indonesia

(BISINDO), and its variations such as Jakarta Sign Language or Balinese Sign Language, have

attracted sign language linguistic researchers (Palfreyman, 2019). This phenomenon has