'Bule' for westerners

'Bule' for westerners

In her letter On racism (The Jakarta Post, July 29, 1995) Mrs.
Olvia Reksodipoetro inadvertently debunks her generalization of
Indonesians as being "...extremely pleasant...." when she writes:
"...as a bule (as Indonesians refer to Westerners)..." .
According to Kamus Indonesia Inggris, by Echols and Shadily,
bule, bulek, and bulai have two meanings: "Albino and
(Derogatory) white person, Caucasian." Further, Kamus Umum Bahasa
Indonesia published by the Indonesian government states that
bulai means entirely white of body and hair and then refers the
reader to sabun, the Indonesian word for soap. Sabun, in turn,
reveals that orang sabun means bulai (e.g., a white person is
like a white bar of soap).

Sadly, too many Indonesians across most social and educational
levels now use -- with little impunity -- the term bule rather
than the more polite orang barat. This speaks volumes for this
society's respect for others and, by implication, themselves.
That uniformed foreigners would also used bule, blithely thinking
it a term of endearment, suggests that, in some cases, their time
here -- two decades in Mrs. Reksodipoetro's case -- hasn't been
spent very perceptively.

FRED STARTZ

Jakarta