Language reflects national character<\/p>\n
By Prapti Widinugraheni<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): 'Bahasa menunjukkan bangsa' is a popular
\nIndonesian saying which more or less means \"language reflects
\npeople\". Ironically, however, it is ourselves who have to be
\nrepeatedly reminded of the importance of bahasa Indonesia in
\nshaping the nation's identity.<\/p>\n
Language, which to some people may not seem as important as
\ngeneral elections or as serious as bad debts, has lately become
\nan issue that even President Soeharto, and later Education and
\nCulture Minister Wardiman Djojonegoro, have addressed.<\/p>\n
\"Use bahasa Indonesia correctly and be proud of it,\" said
\nWardiman last February when he announced the theme of the
\nofficial campaign to promote the proper usage of the national
\nlanguage.<\/p>\n
The campaign was officially launched on National Awakening Day
\nlast Saturday.<\/p>\n
So far, the first ones to feel the sting of the campaign have
\nbeen real estate developers, apartment and shopping mall
\nbuilders, who have been proudly using foreign names and terms for
\ntheir projects, saying that it is \"more eye-catching\" to
\nprospective customers.<\/p>\n
This was quickly dismissed by language expert Anton Moeliono
\nwho quipped that people choose a house not by its name but by its
\nlocation.<\/p>\n
Next, the media was lashed at, with Moeliono saying that while
\non the one hand the press could become an effective means to
\nintroduce good and correct bahasa to its 190 million users, it
\ncould, on the other, cause widespread, massive mistakes every
\ntime it used the language incorrectly.<\/p>\n
Why is the issue of bahasa Indonesia so important and why does
\nit still have to be promoted even though it has been proclaimed
\nthe national language for almost 70 years?<\/p>\n
Bahasa Indonesia was adopted from bahasa Melayu, which in
\nancient times was commonly used in Riau, Johor and areas around
\nthe Malay Peninsula.<\/p>\n
It started out as a lingua franca and a language of trade used
\nacross the Indonesian archipelago and neighboring regions in
\nSoutheast Asia.<\/p>\n
In was later enriched by local dialects from across the
\narchipelago, such as those spoken in Java, Sunda, Madura, Ambon,
\nManado, Minang and Aceh.<\/p>\n
It also received significant influence from foreign words and
\nphrases which arrived on our shores with the colonialists.<\/p>\n
In the late 1920s, bahasa Melayu was used by only 4.9 percent
\nof the then 30 million population.<\/p>\n
According to 1990 statistics, 24 million or 15 percent of the
\n180 million population spoke bahasa as a daily language, 107
\nmillion or 68 percent could speak the language but did not use it
\nin daily communication and 27 million or 17 percent could not
\nunderstand bahasa Indonesia at all.<\/p>\n
The Central Bureau of Statistics predicts that by the year
\n2010, every Indonesian aged five years and older from an
\nestimated total population of 215 million would master bahasa,
\nalbeit at various levels of skill.<\/p>\n
To this day, the development of bahasa Indonesia has not yet
\ncome to a halt.<\/p>\n
It has continued to receive, adopt and absorb new vocabularies
\non one hand while changing, standardizing and adjusting old ones
\non the other.<\/p>\n
In the last 50 years, the Indonesian dictionary has added over
\n50,000 new words and terms to its contents.<\/p>\n
Several months ago, for example, the Pusat Pembinaan dan
\nPengembangan Bahasa Indonesia (Center for Indonesian Language
\nDevelopment) published a guideline for the correct usage of
\nbahasa Indonesia. Included in the guideline was a long list of
\nforeign terms and their new, standardized Indonesian
\ntranslations.<\/p>\n
The words condominium, concession, management and
\nderegulation, for instance, are directly absorbed into bahasa
\nIndonesia and become kondominium, konsesi, manajemen and
\nderegulasi.<\/p>\n
However, supermarket, high-rise building, data processor and
\nawning become pasar swalayan, bangunan jangkung, pengolah data
\nand bidai respectively.<\/p>\n
The list also had the \"correct\" translation of foreign-named
\nhousing estates and shopping malls: Bogor Boulevard should be
\nAdimarga Bogor or Bulevar Bogor, Cafe Batavia should be Kafe
\nBetawi, Ratu Plaza should be Plaza Ratu and City Garden should be
\nTaman Asripura or Taman Kota Permai.<\/p>\n
Others included in the list were: mus (mousse), baju senggang
\n(negligee), benang pembersih gigi (dental floss), waralaba or
\nfrancis (franchise), kentang jari goreng (french fries), mi
\nspinasi (spinach noodles) and penempahan (booking).<\/p>\n
One of the disadvantages of being such a young and relatively
\nsimple language, is perhaps its \"flexibility\".<\/p>\n
\"Bahasa Indonesia goes by very loose guidelines,\" Anton once
\nsaid. \"Why can't we be more grammatically strict when we use
\nbahasa Indonesia, like when people speak Arab, English or German,
\nfor instance,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Anton considers bahasa Indonesia guidelines urgently needs to
\nbe tightened, its rules reinforced and, last but not least,
\npopularized countrywide.<\/p>\n
But Anton may have more to do than simply call on the public
\nto use \"Bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar\" (good and correct
\nbahasa Indonesia).<\/p>\n
Although bahasa Indonesia is an egalitarian language which
\nenables everyone to use it regardless of their social background,
\nthe dominant Indonesian culture of following -- and bowing -- to
\na senior, a respected public figure or an elder fellow-speaker in
\nan excessive and sometimes irrational manner, does not always
\nallow the language to remain egalitarian.<\/p>\n
While written speeches by the country's top-most people in
\nbahasa Indonesia are practically flawless, it is no secret that
\nwhen it comes to speaking the language, except for a few
\nexceptions, these people generally articulate very poorly in
\nIndonesian.<\/p>\n
Not only are their sentences not well-structured and therefore
\nmake no sense, but their pronunciation -- of Indonesian and
\nadapted foreign terms -- is also often incorrect.<\/p>\n
Aside from that, another dominant culture in the country is
\nsaying \"yes\" when you actually mean \"no\" and vice-versa --
\nsomething that many long-time expatriates may be quite familiar
\nwith.<\/p>\n
To do this, a speaker must go beating around the bush before
\nhe arrives at what he really wants to say.<\/p>\n
The only way to do that, in Indonesian, is by making long,
\nwinding sentences where you have to slip in here and there words
\nof respect, words of apology (if necessary) and, of course, your
\ntrue intention, which should be neatly wrapped somewhere among
\nthe \"flowery\" phrases.<\/p>\n
This causes unnecessary words and phrases which have no
\ncontribution to clarifying an idea. Instead, it results in very
\nbad bahasa Indonesia.<\/p>\n
If the top figures who are supposed to be role models for the
\ncountry's 190 million bahasa users still fail to demonstrate
\ntheir ability to conceive a good flow of ideas -- for a good
\nsentence is a spoken or written form of an idea -- imagine where
\nMoeliono must start his language campaign.<\/p>\n
And imagine what the proud founding fathers would think if
\nthey saw their grandchildren's generation use a language they
\nvalued so highly in such a poor manner.<\/p>",
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