Indonesian and adaptations

Indonesian and adaptations

I had been toying for some time with the idea of opening up a lively debate, after all the "English English" correspondence, on "Indonesian Indonesian," when all of a sudden Gilly Ellyanasari (Indonesian language, Letters Jan. 17, 1996) takes (just a few of) the words out of my mouth. But her letter only touches on the tip of the iceberg (remember, only one-eighth of an iceberg shows above the surface of the sea). I should therefore like to touch on the concealed seven-eighths.

The recent law forbidding the use of foreign words and names in advertisements and the like must surely rank as a very retrograde piece of legislation. Indonesia and its language should be moving forward into the 21 century, not indulging in "linguistic cleansing".

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of words in the Indonesian dictionary that are no more than adaptations of foreign words (mostly English) -- all those words ending in "-asi", "-isi" and "-itas" -- to say nothing of words like jendela (Portuguese jenela) or sepatu (Spanish zapato). Even one very special word for Indonesia, Proklamasi, is itself an adaptation of the English word "Proclamation".

Strip all those words out of Bahasa Indonesia, and what is left? A very stark language, ill fitted for the 21st century. After all, Bahasa Indonesia is in effect Malay with very minimal modifications. Indonesia is a young nation, so Bahasa Indonesia is not a language rooted in the tradition of an ancient nation.

Therefore, why be so anxious to keep it free of foreign words? Would it not be a far wiser course to say "Bahasa Indonesia is still a very young language, deficient of certain words to express certain things."

For example, the other day I had occasion to use the word "verbiage" to an Indonesian friend. Having explained in English what it meant, I then sought to reinforce my explanation by showing my friend the Indonesian word in the dictionary, but what did we find? "Verbiage" = terlalu banyak kata-kata yang tidak berguna (too much talk and not enough facts). Why not enrich Bahasa Indonesia by adapting numerous other words to which there is no one-word equivalent by introducing a new word? In this case, verbiasi.

English people are mostly in favor of keeping their wonderfully rich language pure (over one million words in the full 20-volume Oxford Dictionary); we nevertheless are happy to introduce foreign expressions and words that we feel express better in that foreign language what the English equivalent means. For example, the French faux pas for "a social blunder"; the siesta for a nap, and mot juste (French) for "just the right word". Would it not be a wise move for the Center for Development Growth of the Indonesian Language, which Ellyanasari mentions, to do what its name implies and set about enriching the language with new words rather than allowing it to be diminished by negative legislation?

R.B. SAWREY-COOKSON

Jakarta