Building owners told to replace foreign names

Building owners told to replace foreign names

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja reminded the owners of buildings along the city's main roads yesterday to replace their foreign names with Indonesian terms.

"There is already a Gubernatorial Decree on this matter and I hope that buildings along Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Jend. Sudirman can change their names as soon as possible," Surjadi said in a ceremony to mark the changing of the name of Jaya Bank, owned by the Jaya Group, into Bank Jaya.

The governor said that the city administration is currently trying to promote the National Discipline Movement, whose objectives include the proper use of Bahasa Indonesia.

The governor said that the movement, which was launched by President Soeharto on May 20, should encourage Indonesians to improve discipline.

"We have to popularize the program among Jakartans to improve the quality of the people and enable them to compete in an international world," Surjadi said.

Discipline, he revealed, can help people to finish their work on time and with the best results.

However, Surjadi said, it would be unwise to implement the program too quickly.

"There are four steps for implementing the program: persuasion, prevention, repression and the law," he said.

Along with Bank Jaya, a number of buildings also introduced their new foreign names. The Skyline Building becomes Gedung Cakrawala, the Fresh Fruit Center is now Toko Buah Segar, the Kelapa Gading Mall (Mal Kelapa Gading), Concord 2000 Housing (Perumahan Mas 2000), Blok M Mall (Mal Blok M) and Citra Land (Citra Raya).

In a related development, head of the City Public Order Office Kuseini Budiantoro reminded that all foreign names must be changed by Aug. 17 this year, except those with a patent.

"We will not hesitate to dismantle the boards with their foreign names if they fail to do so," Kuseini said yesterday.

The changing of the names can be conducted in two ways: the owners change the names first and report it to the City Revenue Office or they can contact the language center to discuss the appropriate translation for the names of their buildings.

Kuseini guaranteed that there will be no extra charge for changing the name boards. "As long as it is the same size as the old one," Kuseini said.

He also said the city administration will no longer issue permits to new housing complexes with foreign names. (yns/31)