Indonesian: Speaking the same lingo?

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

I went to the mall after school with Andrea and her doi. But I was so bete because he is so jutek, I'd rather be jomblo than go out with him.

Huh?

Even speakers of Indonesian may not understand that sentence. That is because all the italicized words, while Indonesian, are slang.

Doi means s/he or boyfriend/girlfriend. Bete is annoyed or upset, jutek is unfriendly and jomblo means dateless.

Learning slang may seem a waste of time, but you need to master it or risk being left out of many a conversation with urban young people.

Like parents who can't understand their children, and say, "What is jutek? What is bete? Why can't my children speak correct Bahasa Indonesia?"

Bahasa Indonesia was championed as part of the youth pledge made by a group of young Indonesians in 1928 in their bid for independence. The language was meant to be the means of communication to keep all the diverse peoples of the archipelago, with all their dialects, together.

But today, as the country commemorates Youth Pledge Day on Sunday, many say there is too wide a gap between the official language, for basic communication, and the informal one which people use to express themselves.

The language we learn and speak at school is completely different from the language we use among our friends. Not to mention the people in the regions, who prefer to speak local languages rather than the national one.

"The official Indonesian is non-existent," "Herry", a 26-year- old script editor at a production house, told The Jakarta Post.

Indra Herlambang, 25, a graphic designer said that Indonesian was either too formal or "cheesy".

"It's formal because we only use it in school or for business. And it's cheesy because soap operas use it. So it just feels funny to speak the same language as in school. I don't know why."

"Things are different abroad, like in Germany, for example. What is spoken in school is pretty much the same as the slang," said Indra, a former exchange student in Germany.

The strange feeling that accompanies "formal" Indonesian makes young people uncomfortable using it as a medium of expression, so they rely on slang instead.

"Besides, I think Indonesian is less rich compared to English, for example, in terms of vocabulary," Indra added.

Herry said he found it difficult to write scripts using informal Indonesian.

"We want our show to be as natural as possible so we use everyday language. But it turns out that it's very difficult to transfer it into writing because we're not used to it."

According to Dede Oetomo, a professor of linguistics at Airlangga University in Surabaya, the gap between formal and informal Bahasa Indonesia is the result of the undemocratic New Order regime.

"Language is very much related to politics, and also the economy. Everything was given and arranged by the government (during the New Order), without any desire to know what was going on in society, what people wanted, and without making the language closer to the people," he told the Post.

"That makes Bahasa Indonesia nobody's language. That's why people don't feel that they own the language."

It was different, Dede said, during the rule of first president Sukarno, who spoke more like the people.

"Linguists in this country are also unable to be down to earth because most of them come from the upper class of society," he said.

But he denied that Bahasa Indonesia was lacking in vocabulary and was less flexible than foreign languages. He pointed to the many authors and novelists in the country.

It is time, Dede said, to redefine not the language, but our attitude toward it.

"Teachers should speak the students' language or else the education will be in vain. Besides, informal language is more simple and straightforward."

Using everyday language, Dede said, will not spoil the language.

"It was the last regime who spoiled the language. You can see how our government people spoke poor and very indirect language. There's no such thing as a spoiled language. It's like when you write, there's people who are good and bad writers," he said.

Standard language is still needed, Dede added, but should be categorized, such as for television or print media.

But above all, he added, it is important to change our culture -- and speak up.

"Young people should be more outspoken. What a student did in Aceh, when he interrupted President Megawati Soekarnoputri's speech, that is what we should do more often."