Most RI islands still unnamed

JAKARTA (JP): Most of Indonesia's 17,500 islands do not have names. Now, did you know that?

Government officials said yesterday Indonesia had yet to find names for 11,808 of its isles across the world's largest archipelago.

The country is also having a headache finding proper names for numerous rivers, forests, mountains and hills. Some have the same names and it has yet to be decided what to do about it.

To handle the problem, the home affairs ministry and the coordinating body for survey and mapping agreed yesterday to work together.

"We believe it's urgent to find names for the many isles," said chief of the survey and mapping agency Paul Suharto after signing the memorandum of understanding.

The absence of names has posed problems for search and rescue operations trying to locate incidents in remote places.

Suharto said naming the isles would greatly benefit the military in its defense operations.

The naming would be in line with recommendations at the United Nations' 1967 conference, which suggested all its members conduct geographical mapping.

The project will involve linguists from Center for Development of Indonesian Language, Suharto said.

The spelling and pronunciation of names would be taken from the local languages. The names should be nationally and internationally accepted, he said.

He refused to say how much the project will cost. (03/imn)