Influence from Dutch

Recently, two people (David Jardine :Pidgin language, Nov. 29, 1996 and Robby Susatyo: Kondomisasi needed to fight AIDS, Dec. 2, 1996) have addressed the pidginisasi of the Indonesian language. Both authors claim the use of the suffix "-isasi" originates from the English "-ization". I admit English contributes in a major way to modern Bahasa Indonesia, but pray tell me why they seem to overlook another influence on the language, namely Dutch.

Mr. Jardine's konfusi could be cleared up by this etymological attribution. In Dutch, "retributie" means payment and "reparatie" means repairs. Both are pronounced similarly to their Indonesian equivalents. Mr. Robby's explanation of the origin of "nasionalisasi" and "rasionalisasi" would also make more sense by tracing these words to the Dutch "nationalisatie" and "rationalisatie", both pronounced exactly as in Indonesian.

So "parkirisasi" would not emerge because it stems from the Dutch "parkeren", which means to park, and has been assimilated into "parkir" in Indonesian.

I would not dare call the adoption of foreign words into one's language "pidginisasi". Also, it is quite normal to have several words for the same concept, be they of local or foreign origin. It is up to the user to choose from one of the available synonyms.

FOLKERT MULLER

Jakarta