More pleasant names needed

More pleasant names needed

From Suara Karya

As an Indonesian citizen from Cisarua, Bogor and member of the Indonesian Association of the Disabled (HPCTI), we would like to suggest that our leaders, particularly those in the State Ministry of Tourism and Culture be consistent with the words "arts and culture". To give more significance to tourist resorts/spots, national parks and other cultural or historical places, we should name these places accordingly.

Like Citawan Game Reserve located between China and India, the place is named after the Citawan Plain, thus, instead of Taman Safari, the park should be called Taman Satwa/Fauna Cibeurem as it is located in the village of Cibeurem. Other examples showing cultural association are Ancol Dreamland, Ragunan Zoo and Taman Karang Kates, lying between Malang and Blitar in East Java, as all these places are named after their locations.

Another bad example is Bunga Bangkai (corpse flower) for the Rafllesia Arnoldi. Originally from the forests of Jambi, Sumatra, this plant is called by the Kubu tribe Bunga Bangkai and the name remains the same even at the Bogor Botanical Garden. In this modern era, do we still have to retain the name which does not at all reflect any artistic value? In fact, this plant should have been named after its place of origin or if that was unknown, Bunga Bangkai should be changed to Bunga Ajaib (the flower of miracles), which gives a more soothing feeling.

There are many names of places which sound disgusting like Rawa Bangkai (Corpse Swamp), Kali Bangkai (Corpse River), Bukit Tengkorak (Skull Hill) and many others which are not in line with the arts and cultural values of our nation. It is high time we changed the names of these places to ones that are soothing to the ear.

SYAMSI et all

HPCTI

Bogor, West Java