'Sleeping' policemen

Mr. D. Chandramouli strikes an enlightening, amusing note about his first encounter with the Indonesian language in his "By the Way" column in The Jakarta Post of Sunday, Feb. 17.

There are some points, however, which I think need some additional attention.

The first is the Indonesian phrase polisi tidur, or sleeping policemen. The equivalent in my Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English of 1980 describes an "esp. CarE. as a "narrow, raised part placed across a road to force traffic to move more slowly."

The question now arises whether this is an Indonesian phrase translated into (Caribbean) English -- or the other way around.

Second, Mr. Chandramouli said he cannot understand why Indonesian shopkeepers keep saying belum ada, or "not yet available," when, in fact, they never previously stored or sold a particular item, and have no intention of doing so in the future.

Next, he wonders why shopkeepers tell their customers that their goods might sometimes be habis (finished) -- as if they were over stocked, and had just run out.

In the first instance, the store owners obviously want to give the impression that, unfortunately, the item in question has yet to be made available. In this respect, they will be only as good as other shops that sell this item.

In the second, the implication is that customers were just a little too late. If only he had arrived a little earlier, he would have been able to buy the item.

So, in both cases, the shopkeepers are trying not to disappoint the customers. These are polite ways of telling the truth to customers.

LIE HUA

Jakarta