Indonesian: Speaking the same lingo?

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."