'Indonesian language good for scientific purposes'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): As the country prepares to mark the 67th
\nanniversary of Bahasa Indonesia as the national language, poets
\nand experts yesterday exalted it as a supple medium that is both
\nesthetically and scientifically malleable.<\/p>\n
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro
\nunderlined the role Bahasa Indonesia plays as a unifier of the
\nnation and its ability to evolve with the changing times.<\/p>\n
Wardiman dismissed the suggestions that the national language
\nis incapable of illustrating modern scientific and technical
\njargons, pointing to the many research papers that have been well
\nwritten in Indonesian.<\/p>\n
\"There are many dissertations and thesis prepared which tract
\nvarious issues of science and technology,\" he said during a
\nmeeting on the 1995 Language and Literature Month at the Language
\nDevelopment Center.<\/p>\n
Bahasa Indonesia was formally declared the national language
\nwhen a group of youths from Java, Sumatra and the eastern
\nislands, which were all then under Dutch rule, gathered in
\nJakarta on Oct. 28, 1928, to affirm their alliance to one nation,
\none state and one language. That declaration is now known and
\ncommemorated as Sumpah Pemuda, or Youth Pledge day.<\/p>\n
Wardiman's comment came in light of the increasing popularity
\nof foreign languages, particularly English, among Indonesia's
\nintellectual elite.<\/p>\n
The government has waged a vigorous campaign this year to
\nencourage people to use Indonesian correctly. Part of the
\ncampaign involved replacing foreign words on billboards and in
\nnames of real estates and companies with Indonesian terms.<\/p>\n
Wardiman stressed that Indonesians should not scoff at
\nIndonesian but instead should be proud to possess a language
\nwhich is able, amid the many ethnic languages already in
\nexistence, to unite the country and is applicable to modern
\nscience.<\/p>\n
\"There is no reason for people to think that Bahasa Indonesia
\ncannot be used to express ideas on science and technology,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He urged Indonesians to consciously use proper Indonesian in
\ntheir daily lives. The appropriate use of the language would help
\nfoster its development, he added.<\/p>\n
The minister noted that apart from scientific pieces, the
\nlanguage has proven through the vast volumes of literary work
\nthat it also contains a high degree of aesthetic values.<\/p>\n
His point was further hammered at by poet W.S. Rendra, who
\nduring the discussion yesterday said that he had been privileged
\nto use Bahasa Indonesia as a medium to express his work.<\/p>\n
\"As a poet I have been lucky to use Bahasa Indonesia. It is
\nvery lithesome and thus appropriate for poetry,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n
The power of Bahasa Indonesia was its ability to matriculate
\nthe various ethnic influences from around the country, he said.<\/p>\n
The ability to accommodate the high degree of aesthetic values
\nis demonstrated by the many translations of foreign literary
\npieces into Indonesian without losing the original essence.<\/p>\n
\"This has been proven by Jakob Sumardjo who successfully
\ntranslated Shakespeare's works,\" Rendra said. \"Bahasa Indonesia
\nis certainly capable of bringing out the beauty in literary
\nworks.\"<\/p>\n
During yesterday's meeting, special appreciation was given to
\nthree current works for their contribution to Indonesian
\nliterature.<\/p>\n
Two of them are collections of short stories: Saksi Mata
\n(Eyewitness) by Seno G. Ajidarma and Tuyul (Ghost) by F. Rahardi.
\nThe third is a novel by Ahmad Tohari called Bekisar Merah (Red
\nRooster).(mds)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesian-language-good-for-scientific-purposes-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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