Most RI islands still unnamed

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)