Interpreting a Procedural Text with a Missing Step
You are given a short Indonesian procedural text explaining how to register for a village health programme. It lists: collect a letter from the kepala desa, bring a photocopy of your identity card, submit the form at the puskesmas, and wait for a schedule. A note at the bottom says bagi yang belum memiliki kartu, harap menghubungi petugas terlebih dahulu. A comprehension question asks what a person without an identity card should do, and a second asks what the text implies about the order of steps. Some students answer that the person cannot register.
1. Answer the question about the person without a card, and explain the reasoning.
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They should contact the officer first before proceeding. The footnote is explicit: bagi yang belum memiliki kartu, harap menghubungi petugas terlebih dahulu - 'for those who do not yet have a card, please contact the officer first'. Answering 'they cannot register' is wrong because the text provides a pathway, not a prohibition. The reasoning depends on reading the footnote as an exception clause that modifies the main procedure, not as an optional extra. This is a common trap: the main list mentions the photocopy, so a careless reader treats the card as a hard requirement. The footnote exists precisely to handle that case. A good answer also notes terlebih dahulu ('first'), which tells you the contact step comes before submitting the form.
2. What does the text imply about the sequence of steps, and where is the text genuinely ambiguous?
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The listed order is broadly sequential: letter → photocopy → submit → wait. But the text does not state that the letter must be obtained before the photocopy, nor whether the letter is needed at submission or only later. So the safest reading is that the list is a checklist of requirements, with a likely but unstated order. The genuinely ambiguous point is where the footnote step fits for someone without a card: does contacting the officer replace the card requirement, delay it, or add to it? The text only says 'first'. A precise answer separates what is stated (contact the officer first), what is implied (submission follows), and what is unresolved (whether alternative documentation is accepted). Recognising that the text underdetermines the answer is itself the skill being tested.