'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