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)