🇮🇩What does Indonesia require?

Everyday topic

Indonesia's constitution settles it in one sentence: Article 36 — the language of the state is Indonesian. No conditions, no transition clause, no list of exceptions. To feel the weight of that sentence you have to see where it sits: around Article 36 are the flag (Article 35), the state emblem with the motto "unity in diversity" (Article 36A), and the national anthem (Article 36B). Language is placed among the symbols of the state, alongside flag, emblem and anthem. That is a completely different filing decision from India's, which puts language in a Part about administrative operation, or China's, which scatters it between the chapters on nationalities and on education. And the historical weight sits there too: Indonesian is not the mother tongue of the largest group — Javanese is — but a variety of Malay chosen as the common language. Writing it in among the symbols amounts to declaring that this country's unity was chosen rather than inherited. Article 36C then leaves the details of flag, language, emblem and anthem to statute.