Yus Badudu
The Teacher of Indonesian Language Teachers

Yus Badudu came to prominence when he began hosting the program Developing the Indonesian Language broadcast by the state-run TVRI at the end of the 1970s. He wrote dozens of books, articles and academic texts about issues pertaining to the Indonesian language. He is one of a very few Indonesian language experts who were widely known. Yus once said that the teaching of the Indonesian language and of literature was a big failure in schools, since students had never become skilled, both in using it orally and in writing it.

Suharto's New Order regime was often offended by Badudu's criticism of officials who could not speak Indonesian properly. His expertise and popularity regarding Indonesian went even beyond that of the Language Center institution. In the past, it was not unusual to hear language teachers say: "According to Yus Badudu"

Today, at the age of 87, Yus lives a quiet life in Bandung. After suffering two strokes, this man whom language expert Anton M. Moeliono called "the teacher of language teachers" does not say much. He has been overlooked and underappreciated by today's public. Tempo met with Yus.