"Indonesians, NOT Indons", - Acting Indonesian Consul General Options

[Crystallised Dre...]

Taken from the Borneo Post (Sunday, Oct. 22).


KUCHING: Acting consul general of the Consulate General of Indonesia here, Rubaya Talib, is appealing to Malaysians not to call Indonesians "Indons" but Indonesians.

"Please, call us 'Indonesians' and not 'Indons'", he said, adding that 'Indons' did not have any meaning at all.

"It seems very common for Malaysians, including those in Sarawak, to call Indonesians 'Indons' whereas even among Indonesians the word is not familiar at all, more so among us back in our country," Rubaya said.

"Those working here may have to bear with it but, generally, they are not happy with the use of 'Indons' to describe them," he told reporters at the breaking of fast dinner with the local media on Friday.

He said, in fact, many Indonesians, especially intellectuals back home, were also complaining and not happy with the word 'Indon' or 'Indons' because it was not right, therefore, a degradation to Indonesian dignity.

He also wished Malaysians would understand that not all Indonesians were bad people simply because a few were found to have committed crimes.

---

So what do you think? Do you see anything wrong with the term 'Indons'? The term has been around for such a long time that it's quite natural for us Malaysians to refer to our Indonesian brethren as Indons.

I see the usage of the term "Indons" more as a convenient 'shortcut' to the term "Indonesians" than as a deliberate way to degrade Indonesian dignity. But if it upsets the Indonesian people, then I feel that we should stop using the term.

This post has been edited by Crystallised Dream: Oct 24 2006, 07:55 AM

[SantaKlaws]

If the term "Indons" was often used as a derogatory term towards Indonesians, I believe its use is inappropriate.

[samheisfl]

If the term "Indons" was often used as a derogatory term towards Indonesians, I believe its use is inappropriate.

Hmm.. not really actually.. almost everything that related to Indonesian wll be addressed as Indons.. from something bad to something good, the Indons terms have been synonyms to Indonesians..

[Lint]

Personally I tend to use Indos, is that derogatory too?

[Astromantic]

Indos are fine. Indons are not, makes all of the Indonesians look like maids or TKIs. And for samheisfl, if you think using Indons is fine then we'd better create something worse for you Malaysians.

[samheisfl]

Indos are fine. Indons are not, makes all of the Indonesians look like maids or TKIs. And for samheisfl, if you think using Indons is fine then we'd better create something worse for you Malaysians.

Did i said that using Indons are better..?
You see, if you come here to Malaysia, everything about indonesia mostly is called indon.. e.g, in our newspaper, the Indonesian's stock exchange is sometimes called Indon Stock Exchange.. it doesn't make you become a maid or TKIs..
And you are most welcome to create something worse for Malaysians.. yeah.. be my guest!!
i ain't supporting the Indon words usage though..

[jason76]

If the term "Indons" was often used as a derogatory term towards Indonesians, I believe its use is inappropriate.

Spot on dude!

[ricochet]

Spot on dude!

Glutony will vouch that we dont use Indons in SG, we usually address them as indonesian - the full name to be honest. And I find a bit ackward to address them as indons...sounds funny

I dunno abt you guys in MY...when you mention indonesian or indon or indos....we always have this mindset that they are rich....haha. Walk into orchard road bro....5 in 10 chinese you see are indonesian.

[Betongan]

Hey, I rather called Indonesian "Indons" because it is part malaysian languange not indonesian languange. Pls don't tell us what to called other people. We have our own languange and we just used them. Indon seem fine to me

[e_vaholic]

^it may seem fine to your ears, but it may not seem fine to indonesian's ears.
we do have to tell someone what to call us,, a good name.
you can't call someone with bad name right??
what will you feel if we ,indonesians, call you, malaysians as MALAS sia..
think that..!!

[Betong]

^it may seem fine to your ears, but it may not seem fine to indonesian's ears.
we do have to tell someone what to call us,, a good name.
you can't call someone with bad name right??
what will you feel if we ,indonesians, call you, malaysians as MALAS sia..
think that..!!

Wow, new name for Malaysian.....

Keep up your stupid work!!!!!

[purple]

And you are most welcome to create something worse for Malaysians.. yeah.. be my guest!!
i ain't supporting the Indon words usage though..

we are gonna call the malays ugly toilet faces!

Hey, I rather called Indonesian "Indons" because it is part malaysian languange not indonesian languange. Pls don't tell us what to called other people. We have our own languange and we just used them. Indon seem fine to me

how about ugly toilet face?? huh u like that?

[Betong]

we are gonna call the malays ugly toilet faces!
how about ugly toilet face?? huh u like that?

Tooooo loooooong toooooo remeeeembbeeeer!!!!!!

[swingdoctor]

Hey, I rather called Indonesian "Indons" because it is part malaysian languange not indonesian languange. Pls don't tell us what to called other people. We have our own languange and we just used them. Indon seem fine to me

We should respect their wishes, besides as far as I understand Bahasa Malaysia has only 4 original words, the others were adapted from other languages particularly Bahasa Indonesia, or maybe I am wrong.

There are many instances where calling a race by a name is not acceptable, eg N*gga.

[Betong]

We should respect their wishes, besides as far as I understand Bahasa Malaysia has only 4 original words, the others were adapted from other languages particularly Bahasa Indonesia, or maybe I am wrong.

oic. Pls tell me those 4 origanal words?? Thats new claim to me..

[swingdoctor]

oic. Pls tell me those 4 origanal words?? Thats new claim to me..

I can't remember what they are now but my Bahasa teacher told me way back in Secondary School

[e_vaholic]

Wow, new name for Malaysian.....

Keep up your stupid work!!!!!

nah,, you're mad when we call malaysian with bad names huh??
that's what we feel when you call us "indon"
that means, don't call someone with bad names if you don't wanna be called with bad names.
that's fair.

[Betong]

I can't remember what they are now but my Bahasa teacher told me way back in Secondary School

Sorry, but I think your Bahasa teacher maybe wrong here.

According to wikipedia

"The Malay language, also known locally as Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malaysia, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who reside in the Malay Peninsula, southern Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo.
It is an official language of Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. It is also used as a working language in East Timor. It is very similar to Indonesian, known locally as Bahasa Indonesia, the official language of Indonesia. The official standard for Malay, as agreed upon by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, is the form spoken in the Riau Islands just south of Singapore, long considered the birthplace of the Malay language."

So why Indonesia used Malay languange too instead Javanese or Sundanese or Minangkabau or Balinese???
I just dunno. I believed Bahasa Melayu used as lingua franca dated in Srivijaya times and enrich in Malacca Sultanate Empire.

So it was rather wrong to claim that Bahasa Melayu adapt from Bahasa Indonesian. What is right was Bahasa Melayu was derived language from language spoken from past Malay empire such Malaccan Sultanate and Johor-Riau Empire. And so do bahasa Indonesian

[e_vaholic]

^becoz bahasa melayu is the easiest language in indonesia.
as you know we have more than 500 dialects here.
anyway, we do absorb words from our dialects. something that we can't find in bahasa melayu.

[Betong]

^^^ Lingua franca.
Easier and more famous

nah,, you're mad when we call malaysian with bad names huh??
that's what we feel when you call us "indon"
that means, don't call someone with bad names if you don't wanna be called with bad names.
that's fair.

no, I never mad with your. Why would I? Ok, let called ya'all Indonesian.