Govt to create computer programs in Indonesian

JAKARTA (JP): The State Ministry for Research and Technology said it was collaborating with several information technology (IT) leaders to develop Indonesian-language computer programs as part of its effort to promote the use of computers in the country.

Deputy Minister Dicky Munaf said on Wednesday that the ambitious project was aimed at breaking language barriers for local people and, as such, encouraging more people to use computers.

"The fact that computer programs are mostly in English has often discouraged many beginners from starting to use computers. They are afraid of making mistakes," he was quoted as saying by Antara.

The IT companies involved in the project include international firms IBM, Linux, Hewlett Packard and local firm Astra Graphia.

Dicky said the ministry had established three joint task forces to realize the project.

One task force has been assigned to translate computer terminology from English into Indonesian, while the other two have been tasked with developing a computer program in Indonesian and to then promote and implement the program among the public.

Each task force consists of language and IT experts.

"In the beginning, the translation task force will do their job of translating computer commands into Indonesian, including the 'help' function and other functions available on the computer keyboard," he said, adding that the translation task force was expected to complete their assignment by the end of June.

He also said the project was expected to develop a Web Translation Engine, but he did not provide details on the engine.

According to Dicky, there are currently 2.5 million active computer users in the country.

He also said that at least 15 countries have applied their own national languages to computer programs. The countries include Germany, Japan, France, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, China, Denmark, Russia, South Korea and Poland. (03)