How Indonesia sees ASEAN and the world : a cursory survey of the social studies and history textbooks of Indonesia, from primary to secondary level

• Main Author: Farish A. Noor
• Other Authors: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
• Format: Working Paper
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/94349; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/7596
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Over the past few years Indonesia’s political landscape has altered somewhat as a result of the rise of new nationalist NGOs and mass movements, that have called upon the Indonesian government to take a stronger stand when defending Indonesia’s national identity and position in ASEAN. Observers of Indonesian politics have asked if this marks the rise of hyper-nationalism in the country, and how this may affect Indonesia’s relationship with its ASEAN neighbours. This paper looks at how Indonesia’s school textbooks present the other countries and societies of ASEAN to ordinary school children in Indonesia, and looks at how Indonesian identity is framed in relation to the other countries around it. It argues that Indonesian school textbooks do indeed give a rudimentary but objective and correct view of the other countries in ASEAN, and that the rise of nationalism among some groups in Indonesia today cannot be attributed to the education that millions of Indonesian students are given on an annual basis.