Habibie tells officials to say it like it is

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie told officials on Monday to stop sugarcoating unpleasant facts with euphemisms and to start speaking bluntly.

Opening the 7th congress of the Indonesian language at the State Palace, Habibie regretted that many government officials eschewed forthright disclosure of information to the public and resorted instead to vague terms to gloss over adverse situations.

"A group of people suffering from starvation is manipulatively described as facing only 'food shortages'. The price hike of a commodity or service is often explained as a 'price adjustment'," the President said.

With 850 participants, the five-day congress is part of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the nation's Youth Pledge.

The pledge of "One Country, One Nation and One Language: Indonesia", was made by a group of youths on Oct. 28, 1928, during the Dutch colonial era. Indonesian is derived from Malay.

He said Indonesian was selected because it was democratic in nature, a requirement for the official language of a modern state.

The President also roasted bureaucrats who parroted their superior's speech even when they knew it was flawed.

"They realize the official's language style is not correct and even violates the structure of Indonesian language."

Habibie uses the English pronunciation for the Indonesian ekonomi, and many ministers and senior officials now appear to ape his pronunciation of the word.

"What needs to be reformed with Indonesian is the behavior of the language users themselves," Habibie said.

In his report to the President, Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono said the congress would launch the Tata Bahasa Baku Bahasa Indonesia, the official publication on Indonesian grammar.

He said his ministry would also release a third edition of the Indonesian dictionary although he did not specify a date.

"People's attention and interest in the congress is very encouraging," Juwono said.

In his official address to the congress, Juwono urged Indonesian language experts to be tolerant of colloquialisms in their speech.

"I urge the language experts, outside of the use of Indonesian language in formal occasions, to give space for people to use daily diction as a form of their creativity," the minister remarked.

Non-Javanese speakers often complain they have to imitate a Javanese accent when speaking Indonesian because there persists a dismissive attitude toward speech patterns from other regions.

The use of abbreviations in Indonesian is also confusing as there is no clear standard on their usage. The Armed Forces (ABRI) is frequently criticized for utilizing acronyms which often confound listeners.

Meanwhile, Anton Moeliono of the Indonesian Language Center welcomed the President's call for transparency in the use of the Indonesian language.

Anton blamed former president Soeharto for also contributing to the inordinate influence of Javanese, including its pronunciation, in the official language.

"I believe that euphemism in politics must be erased. But this is going to need a process because the politics of language and feudalism culture... still exist among the bureaucrats."

The past domination of the executive branch translated into "the Indonesian language had to serve the power", he added.

"It was evident in the rampant euphemism in politics used by the government to cover up something which actually must be understood openly by the public," he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.

"Political euphemism should be used only in diplomacy because it is consumed only by limited circles of the elite." (prb/edt)