This study explores the relationship between language selection and identity construction in contemporary Indonesia through an examination of the function of English, a language that still receives stigma from many Indonesians and the government, particularly in Indonesian popular texts published after 1998. Utilizing hybrid critical approaches and interpretive textual analysis, I examine how the socio-political situation has influenced language selection in the period following Suharto's rule (1966-1998), popularly known as the Reformasi era. During both the Suharto (the New Order era) and the post-Suharto (the Reformasi) eras, language use has been central to the construction of a government-imposed national identity. During the New Order era, the authoritarian government passed a language law and other laws to regulate language use in printed and cinematic works. The attitude of the current government in the Reformasi era towards bahasa gado-gado, however, still imitates the New Order era by restricting the use of English and reinforcing the use of Indonesian as the official language. Currently, both the government and many Indonesians see the use of English in otherwise Indonesian texts as a sign of interference with the national identity. In this light, the top-down approach constructs national identity as homogenous, while popular texts demonstrates that Indonesian identities are in fact multi-faceted. Although bahasa gado-gado often receives social censure, I argue that its use does not make its speakers "un-Indonesian" but rather functions as a strategic mechanism to expand our understanding of what it means to be Indonesian. I shed light on bahasa gado-gado as a strategic mechanism of resistance toward policies and social norms that privilege monolingualism. My project contributes to existing research on Indonesian popular culture within literary and cultural studies, adding a new focus on discourse analysis that combines social, political, and cultural perspectives with sociolinguistic analysis. In addition, my project contributes to a small but growing body of literature on written code-switching, which has been less researched than oral code-switching in the field of Second Language Acquisition. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]