A couple of weeks ago news agency Antara reported that Indonesia's manpower minister Jacob Nuwa Wea stated that "... he would make it compulsory for any expatriate working in Indonesia to speak the language proficiently to promote harmonious relations with local workers..."

Subsequently there have been squeals of demurement from both expatriates and foreign investors who feel this is just further adding to the disincentives of working and investing in Indonesia. Bulldust is what I say. There are far better reasons for thinking that this just may be a very good idea.

Given the high costs anyway of supporting expat workers, paying for a couple of hours of formal instruction a week is almost insignificant. In fact if it was me, I'd hold them on a Friday night so single Indonesian wanitas can at least one night a week enjoy an after-work drink in peace in the up market cafés and restaurants so beloved by expats on the prowl. It may well reduce turnover in the early business hours at the Hard Rock Cafe and Tanamur, but may well broaden conversational topics later on in the night beyond body language.

Firstly, Indonesia is no Singapore or Malaysia. Even in Malaysia, whose national language Bahasa Melayu shares 90% in common with Indonesian (sometimes called Bahasa Indonesia), English is understood widely. English language skills are relatively scarce in Indonesia, in all levels from the élite through professional, senior management and supervisory levels to factory workers and counter staff. In the main cities and Jakarta, fluency in Indonesian pays off, though once you move to more rural or provincial areas, one of the more than 200 local, tribal, or regional dialects like Javanese for example are used in preference to Bahasa Indonesia. But as the girl says... one step at a time..

Secondly being a Latin script based language borrowing from English, French, and Dutch with little formal rules regarding tenses, it is not a great effort to learn, unlike languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Thai, which many expats start to master over a couple of years in other countries. Many expatriates in Indonesia already can speak Indonesian fluently; it is not difficult to learn and master, as they have proven. Requiring the small group of recalcitrants, especially at higher levels, to do the same, is no big ask. After all, being a recently introduced "manufactured" language, all Indonesians have been asked to master the new language - expatriates should be given no special dispensation.

But most importantly it means that expats can chat directly to workers on the shop floor or the counters, reducing their dependence on English speaking supervisors and middle managers to translate for then, who often subtly reinforce their own agendas. It reduces the needs for professional and informal translators, at once turning an expense into an investment and a medium term cost saver.

Formal language skill training is not however the key method used by most second-language Indonesian speakers, for mastering the lingo. Watching English films on TV with Indonesian subtitles, immersing yourself in local gatherings and family settings where the language is spoken, and a disciplined program to learn 5 new words or phrases a day will return results.