Soeharto 'corroded' Indonesian language
Soeharto 'corroded' Indonesian language
JAKARTA (JP): Political oppression under Soeharto's New Order
regime destroyed the function of the Indonesian language -- which
was to tell the truth -- and impoverished the people's systematic
and creative thinking, according to an expert.
"Throughout the New Order era, Indonesian was used by
bureaucrats to maintain power by 'eliminating' its function as an
instrument of the truth," said Daulat P. Tampubolon of the state
Teachers Training Institute (IKIP) in Medan, North Sumatra, in a
two-day meeting of linguistic and cultural experts on Friday.
The professor told the gathering, held by Atma Jaya
University, that each political period had a certain language of
politics and a language of power which were used to suppress
people's aspirations.
He said a language dies when it displays the following
symptoms: repression of linguistics, monopoly of semantics and
"masked language".
"These have created fear and restraint in communication,
distortion in language structure, language alienation and
cognitive deprivation among people," he said.
He defined linguistics repression as pressure and restriction
of people's right to express their opinions about the regime.
"This is clearly shown in diction used by the authorities,
such as 'violence', 'control', 'security', 'suspicion' and
'criminal'.
"Many people accepted those words in concept but did not
really understand their meaning," he said, adding that the
situation then created "blind obedience to the authorities".
He quoted an official's statement of: "The intellectual
mastermind of the riot has been secured."
"The remark says that the person has been saved. But the word
'secure' here is inappropriate because it often means that the
person could be facing torture during questioning or in prison,"
he noted.
Another sign of semantics monopoly -- better known as marking
words with a regime's political ideas -- are shown in a process
of labeling in the language.
"In the New Order regime's political readings, there are
certain labels given to groups or people considered to be a
threat to the nation.
"Those terms or labels must be accepted and obeyed by the
people," Daulat said, citing terms such as "communist",
"subversive" or "Marxist-Leninist".
The regime attached vicious connotations to the words so that
they scared people and suppressed their participation in writing
and reading, he said.
The "masked language", he argued, was different from
euphemism.
Euphemism was used to soften the words without sacrificing the
presentation of the truth, he said. "Masked language," however,
was misleading, such as in cases where government officials used
the terms "adjustment" for price hike or "unethical" for
activities they wished to prohibit.
"We have to give Bahasa Indonesia back its function, which is
to tell the truth," Daulat said.
The second-day of the meeting featured Multamia RMT Lauder of
the University of Indonesia, Bambang Kasanti Purwo and Soenjono
Dardjowidjojo of Atma Jaya University, and John Verhaar and Anton
M. Moeliono.
President B.J. Habibie will open the Indonesian language
congress on Monday. The five-day event at Hotel Indonesia here
will feature noted figures such as Ignas Kleden, Yusril Ihza
Mahendra and Syarwan Hamid. (edt)