The oblique language

While languages, like all other aspects of culture, grow and change over time, it is difficult to say that the Indonesian language, Bahasa Indonesia, is growing in the right direction -- that is, in the direction of becoming a modern language capable of conveying the complex concepts of science, commerce and technology.

Bahasa Indonesia officially became the national language of Indonesia pending the birth of the independent Republic of Indonesia in 1945. A free nation, after all, must have a language of its own besides a national territory, national citizens, a national flag and a national anthem.

The history of the Indonesian language, however, goes back in time much further. As early as in 1928 -- long before most Indonesians even thought of their country ever becoming independent -- young nationalist leaders convened in Jakarta (Batavia at that time) and proclaimed Bahasa Indonesia the national language of Indonesia, even though the country did not yet exist. Indonesia was still a Dutch colony called the Netherlands East Indies.

The Indonesian language, which is a variation of the generic Malay language, did have its limitations. But despite that, the nation's leaders were confident that, in time, the language would grow into a modern language capable of serving the needs of modern commerce, science and technology.

Develop it did, but not in a way that the nation's founding fathers foresaw. The officially approved Standard Indonesian Language, it seems, is spoken and written only in classrooms while outside, the Jakarta dialect known as Bahasa Betawi is used in its place -- thanks, it seems, to the influence of television and its ever popular soap operas, which are produced in Jakarta and freely intersperse Bahasa Indonesia with Bahasa Betawi words and phrases.

Whatever standard Bahasa Indonesia that is still spoken is more often than not corrupted in a manner that obscures the meaning of the idea the speaker wants to convey. Even television announcers -- who, by the way, are university graduates -- use a kind of Bahasa Indonesia that makes language teachers blush with embarrassment.

Worse still is the ubiquitous use of acronyms and euphemisms. The current topic of debate in Jakarta is whether or not the government is bailing out some big corporations, each with debts running into the billions of U.S. dollars. The government assert it is not bailing out these companies -- using taxpayers' money -- contrary to what many experts and analysts maintain. It is merely "restructuring" the debts of some big debtor conglomerates to keep them from going bankrupt. Hence, there is no reason for people to be upset.

Famine, of course, has long been nonexistent in Indonesia. What does exist is "food deficits" in some of the country's regions. So ubiquitous has the use of euphemisms become that the Indonesian language has become known among foreign observers as "the oblique language."

In part, all this may be due to an old custom common to many parts of Indonesia which forbids the use of direct language, in certain circumstances, in the belief that it brings bad luck. For example, people walking in a forest would refer to a snake as a "root". Also, direct language is considered disrespectful in conversations with older or socially more highly placed persons.

Essentially, however, it is pointless to blame the current mess which the Indonesian language is in on old customs or tradition. More than anything, it is indifference or ignorance, or both, that is to blame. Indonesians, however, must think about the long-term impact of allowing their language to degenerate any further into a meaningless hodgepodge of words.

If Indonesians are serious in their intent on keeping Bahasa Indonesia as their national language, and if their language is to become an adequate instrument of communication in this modern age, steps will have to be taken immediately to eliminate the confusion. Admittedly, that is not an easy task to accomplish. But unless Indonesians are willing to adopt some other language as their national language, they had better begin correcting the problem before it becomes a mission impossible.