Surabayans defend the use of local dialect

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post/Surabaya

The backyard of an old house on Jl. Yos Sudarso here was deserted when The Jakarta Post visited recently. Dusty old desks were seen lined up in the area, piled with books.

"Who are you looking for? Cak Kadar? Please come in," a middle-aged woman said to a confused journalist. She escorted the visitor to an old room in the left of corner of the building.

There, Kadaruslan, fondly called Cak Kadar, spends his daily activities as an executive at the Putra Surabaya (Sons of Surabaya) foundation, an organization that strives to preserve Surabaya's culture. Although he is a septuagenarian, it is apparent that the native Surabayan still has a lot of spirit to fight for his grand dream: to preserve Surabaya's culture.

The first thing he said was that he was quite upset over a recent statement by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission's (KPI) Surabaya branch, condemning a local television station using "coarse" local dialect (Java Suroboyoan). The language is widely spoken in East Java, but rarely used in formal situations, including the media, due to its frankness. For formal occasions, people choose to use Java Yogyakarta language.

But, according to Kadar, the use of Suroboyoan in the media is supposed to be acceptable. The language is not coarse. It has a unique character that reflects the honesty and openness of the East Javanese people, notably Surabaya.

Kadar acknowledged that the sometimes blunt style of Suroboyoan has often bewildered people, especially those from Solo or Yogyakarta, who claim to be much more polite and civilized than Surabayans.

"There are no hierarchical courtesies in the culture of Surabayans. It will surely surprise people who are not used to listening to the dialect. However, it is evidence that Surabayan culture is egalitarian, all are equal," said Kadar.

Cak Kadar said that the uniqueness of the Suroboyoan dialect might have its roots in the fighting spirit of the Surabaya people who refused to become lowly Dutch servants during the colonial era. "Their hatred of the colonial power developed a sense of equality among them and all fought against those who positioned themselves from in the upper classes or as superiors," explained Kadar.

Suroboyoan is a dialect that developed from the Javanese language, and finally became a sub-language of its own.

In the dialect, there is no difference in terminology usage, for example the word mangan (eat) can be spoken to anyone irrespective of their status in the community. It is unlike the Javanese language of Yogyakarta which recognizes hierarchy. In the Javanese language of Yogyakarta, mangan occupies the lowest stratum of language and is used between friends or masters to its servants.

A Javanese linguist at Surabaya State University, Setyo Yuwono, however conceded that some of the terms with negative connotation should be scrapped from everyday usage.

"I agree with the use of the Suroboyoan dialect as a local identity, but there must be guidelines," he said.

Setyo explained that the history of a language was a process, and he deemed it natural that the dialect would be left out by other languages that were more often used.

A Surabaya artist who uses the dialect, Priyo Aljabar, however said that the government was to be blamed for failing to preserve the dialect. "For example, why are Yogyakarta-version Javanese language lessons being taught in schools in Surabaya, and not the local dialect?" he queried.

Priyo found it strange that the dialect was considered rough and not polite, even though in the Betawi vocabulary (native Jakartans), there were similar swear words. "If they consider jancuk (exclamation meaning fecal matter) impolite, then why is busyet (a male bovine's fecal matter) not disputed?" he said.