Indonesianization of names

Indonesianization of names

JAKARTA (JP): The government is insisting that all hotel and restaurant names should be "Indonesianized" eventually, at least before the end of the decade.

Director General of Tourism Andi Mappisamang was quoted by Antara news agency as saying yesterday that trademark hotel names will be exempted from this regulation.

"The least they could do is use proper Bahasa Indonesia sentence structure," Andi said in Surabaya on Friday night. "So it should be Hotel Melawai, not Melawai Hotel, and Hotel Anggrek and not Anggrek Hotel."

His appeal reinforced the government's current drive to encourage everyone to use proper and correct Indonesian.

The campaign, launched by President Soeharto on May 2, is also targeted at housing developers, restaurant and places of entertainment owners who have increasingly shown preference for foreign-sounding names rather than local terms.

Many hotel operators in Bali have said that changing names would involve huge costs because they have printed promotional brochures, stationary and products such as soaps and napkins with their names on them.

Andi explained that the government is not asking them to change their names immediately, but hotel and restaurant operators should heed the regulation and abide by it eventually.

"If they object now, we can understand, but they should aim to complete the process by the end of the Repelita VI," he said referring to the current Sixth Five Year Plan which ends in 1999.

"We hope all those concerned in the tourism industry will set a target for when they will change their names." (emb)