what’s in a name?
March 24th, 2005 | 
Category: The above may either be the stupidest question one ever asks or the most intelligent of all. Either way, it is not a subject of argument anymore that name is a matter of high importance. People can formulate their perception about a person simply by gathering the information related to such person and nowadays, that can be done effortlessly by using a search engine. To enable that, the only thing has to be known is such person’s name to be used as the keyword for the search. (Have you ever tried using a search engine to find out what available information has been recorded on the cyberspace about you or any particular person you’d like to know? Try once, you might be surprised with the results)
Most of parents – especially those who are concerned about their children will spend substantial efforts and time in finding the best and most suitable name for their children. Being so, I would never like it if someone is making a joke of my name, what more if people starts calling me with anything that I don’t like. The holy book clearly explicates and demands that “O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: It may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women laugh at others: It may be that the (latter are better than the (former): Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong.” (049.011)
The thorough discussion on the topic warrants a complete thesis – thus, in this particular discussion, I exclude the argument based on issue such as pride, dignity, moral value, etc. let’s reason and see if – setting aside all the matters mentioned earlier, it may be warranted to refer to a person with something that person does not like. If one goes and check the proper Indonesian dictionary (which I have not done – yet I am quite sure) he will not find any word “Indon†and what the meaning of such word is. The term, perhaps have been invented by Malaysians. I don’t have any strong basis for this. The assumption is based on the fact that I have never heard such term being used by people of other nationalities, be it other Asians; Arabs; Australians; New Zealanders; Americans; South Americans; Europeans, etc. And however innocent or meaningless such term was, the way and manner how this term has been used – and also the usual intonation being employed while saying such a term – signifies its negative connotations prevailing over the positive ones. As Indonesian, of course, I personally do not like anybody, not even those who are very close to me to ever use that term – not especially while they communicate with me. Some people may have used the term unintentionally and without being driven by any ill-intention. If that is the case, one should be fair enough to tell that other about his feeling about the use of such term so as for the latter not to repeatedly use such term – innocently it may be yet in doing so, the latter is hurting the feeling of the former. Some Indonesians reacted to that and started using a term “Melokai†to refer to Malaysians who are seen as arrogant people who know very little (yet feel very good about themselves). Even yesterday my brother asked if Malaysian are arrogant people to which I answered that “ as far as I know, those friends of mine are nice, far from being arrogant and most importantly they are very friendly. But as with other people of any other nationality, there are “angels†and “devils†among each nation.†That is not the point, what matter is that, people will react in exact manner they are being treated. Regardless of one’s nationality, education background, etc, being human, an individual will treat others the way such others treat him. While none of us can dictate others what to do or not to do, let us start doing this ourselves, stop using any word that you know will hurt others – what goes around comes around… stop treating people in any manner which hurt them. If you don’t want to be labelled as “Melokai†or “Indon†stop using the respective word…. The reason is very simple: Do unto others what you want them do unto you…. (and then only you can call yourself a Muslim)
***Written with my deepest love to my country Indonesia & my family and friends – Indonesians, Malaysians, or any other nationalities***
3 comments
I can see your dissatisfaction here…
I’m sorry, I also call many indonesians as Indon. I think it started from the indonesian themself – they have many short-forms… some terms that i remembered – eg. DepDikBud, Depag, Baksos, Depsosbud, Menlu and lots other terms. This terms is not only used by common people, it also printed as letterheads and addressed formally in letters and news.
I am not going to defend myself very much here as I also encounter many Indonesians in Malaysia, they introduced themselves as Indon – when I formally ask where were they from, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia or Thai…
Maybe it already became a normal thing to call the Indonesians as Indon. I once experienced, the malay people of Sarawak call us the Peninsulars as ‘lepeh’ (Orang Lipas). It hurt my feelings though… but when I became part of Sarawakian, (after spending 2 years of high school there) I also address my fellow Peninsulars as Orang lepeh juak…
my 2 cents
takpe Lin.. bukan hang sorang.. sedangkan sedara mara aku pun (in laws le) still ramai yg camtu… but anytime they do that, I am hurt…
tapi hang melampau gak, org lain sebut hang sakit ati tapi sebut sendiri takpe
aku tak kesah, really.. tapi kalo boleh hang dah tahu apa aku rasa, tak yah le sebut mende tu kat depan aku? ok dear!
luv,
m.e.
Dear Oon and Azelin
You are totally right when saying there are always angel and devil ini every race and nation. That what Quran says to us… But national interest may be spoiled due to the devil’s action cannot be stopped/prevented by the angels of the respective nation.
I was the one who, at the very first time, very-very offended when people says “Indon” to Indonesian people in Kuala Lumpur, be it educated or rough one. According to what I read today, people were starting to use the word actually not for the purpose of degrading, but because of their habit of truncating a word like “gi” for pergi or “M’sia” for Malaysia. It is really a fun if we can cut a long word into a shorter one. For media, it is really space consuming if they write a full word “Indonesian”. So they use “indon” instead.
I was in IIUM, in the middle of transformation of such a word into a mockery concept amongst Malaysians,at national level, even in our PJ campus. It was really-really hurting so that some juniors vows to make a revenge and then they create this “melokay”. I remember it was they who socialize this term among our Indonesian students in IIUM.
I did not aggree with this action. I told them that I was also offended by the term, but creating a term to be used as negative call for the purpose of revenging is a good solution. I said if they know that they are being mocked by us, do you think they are happy? To hurt other people means making a sin, right? And making any sin is not allowed by God, is it?
Since then I always advise Malaysian colleagues not to use the term because it may create a problem for their Indonesian friends. In my campus day (1990-1994) I often found my juniors nearly fight with even his classmates just because they made a joke with the term.
Somewhat Azelin is right when he says Indonesian people also have a habit of abbreviating words. But for me it is “abbreviating”, and abbreviating involves “truncating” some words and joining them into one word. For instance, Depdikbud stands for Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Bandara for Bandar Udara and Senpi for senjata api. The latest example is Wantimpres which stands for Dewan Pertimbangan Presiden. They avoid abreviating them into DPP that might stands for Dewan Pengurus Pusat (english: Central Executive Committee).
We Indonesians never have a habit of “truncating” word, because it might spoil the meaning of the word. If we are to do it, it is because we want to avoid using the word, due to its rudeness or unpoliteness, like “wanita P” for Pelacur (whore) or “having M” for “menstruation”.
Anyway,
I hope my posting will never hurt anyone. My formula in dealing with friends from different countries is simple; if we try to understand other people’s culture, then we will be easily accepted by them. After that we can easily built mutual trust….
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