The seductive quality of English
The seductive quality of English
JAKARTA (JP): Many English words are so seductive that after a brief stay here they are bastardized without shame. At the least they are arbitrarily forced to change their meanings or grammatical status.
There is no doubt that English words have entered the Indonesian vocabulary to fill the local vacuum. In the march of time, they have even become status symbols. The more some people insert English words into their conversations the more cultured they look, regardless of whether their use is called for or not. It is in this way that the original meanings of the words shift.
So we need to look deeper into this issue. But please be careful, because "issue" as used in Bahasa Indonesia means "rumor".
When an official tries to deny a certain report, which he believes to be a rumor, he just says, "Ah, it is not worth discussing. It is an issue".
This quirk started about three decades ago during the political power transition here when the old government had to step aside for the New Order. There were so many matters being discussed that officials were reluctant to repeat those they considered irrelevant, calling them issues instead.
Political change has also introduced "security approach," which native speakers might find a curious way of saying military approach.
Rapid economic development has created many successful "president directors", though the term is neither English nor American. It is an anglicized version of the Dutch president directeur, which has gained popularity here in the local acronym of presdir. The Dutch might have borrowed it from the French term president directeur general.
Economic development has also given rise to konglomerat, a corruption of the English word conglomerate. But a konglomerat to local people is not a large corporation made up of different firms. It refers to the owners, most of whom do not like publikasi. When a tycoon refuses to discuss the background of his success, interviewers usually react by saying: "It seems to me that bapak does not like publikasi".
As you have guessed, what the interviewer means is publicity.
If using English words is not enough to make the right impression, why not use an English suffix. It is now common to hear "nationalization" translated into Bahasa Indonesia as nasionalisasi. Swastanisasi, or privatization, may be necessary before a company can begin pipanisasi, or the installation of pipes for underground cables or liquefied gas.
More foolish might be the word restrukturisasi, which, if not carried out properly, could lead to konfusisasi.
The root of this evil is that most Indonesians are too lazy to look up words in the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, a comprehensive dictionary published by the Ministry of Education and Culture whose use should be encouraged in our campaign for disiplinisasi.
-- Thayeb I Sabil