I posted this up in Malaysian Serious Talk yesterday, but I figured I should also post this up in Indonesian Serious Talk so that I can see what the other side really thinks too.

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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.
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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.

cuz it makes us sound like TKIs (Tenaga Kerja Indonesia) its just stupid there is Indos or orang Indo

why is it only Indon that is use to shorten Indonesia while other countries like Australia or other long words they don'r shorten it?

They are called Aussies!

CD, I guess Indonesians find the word 'Indons' being used solely to refer to TKIs in the Malaysian media, therefore, they object to that sort of short-form classification as derogatory.

Hmmm...that makes me wonder, how do we call Indonesians in Singapore? I think we always say the full word - In-do-ne-sians. Or juz Batam.

^^ no in the newspaper they don't put like this e.g

"Aussies found Smuggling Drugs"
but
"Autralians found smuggling drugs"

while in a newspaper ( Berita Harian) is says

INDON akan menandatangani persetujuan untuk melawan jerubu

I felt

Good point glutt. NO MORE INDON IN NEWSPAPER NOW EAT CHOP SUEY OK LONG TIMEY TIMEY!!!

are you pissed because I used Australia as an e.g?

um I think you have to stop using online translator because your way off pal.

Where've u been bro? Are you the Mod now???

Hi tang. I've been around!, keeping an eye on my fellow indons keke~ and also went on a quick holiday down south just for a week. working hard as always . BTW I'm not the mod. And how have you been ?

round round round round I get around I get around ooooooooooooooh i get around!

I think malay just don't know how to cut a word sesuai dengan suku katanya... hehehe...

well...i used to wonder abt this indon thing when i was in malaysia and brunei. maybe because in chinese dialect indo ( which is what most Indonesians say for someone is from Indonesia..) sound like Indian...i tink ppl who speaks mandarin and hokkien knows what i mean... another thing is that ppl seem to be caught up differentiating between Indonesian - Chinese and Indonesian Native. the conversation goes lsomething ike this...

clueless guy:where are you from?
me: Indo.
clueless guy:huh?
me:Indonesia
clueless guy:ooh Indon...
me:Err yah...(thinking: what the?? it's my country i think i know how to say it..)
clueless guy:Why u so pale?
me:maybe cos my parents are pale..being Chinese and all that...
Clueless guy: oooh ur chinese indon...
Me: eer...yah ( is he going to ask me why i speak chinese too??)
Clueless guy: how come u speak Chinese??
Me: oh had my tounge grafted.. my tounge is born in china...i gtg bye..
clueless guy:eh wat???

hope this at least amuses...my brain is fried trying to study while reading forum...

take care,

'Indon' just doesn't sound rite in Indonesian language structure/grammar. It should be Indo from Indo-nesia. And for Malaysia, it's wrong to say or cut the word to 'Mal' or 'Mala' or 'Malaysi'. It shoud be Malay-sia or Ma-lay-sia.

Saya kira tergantung konteks nya seperti juga kata yahud(i) bisa berarti kata pujian (thumb up) atau caci maki (pelit/kikir), Indon hanyalah penggalan kata yg janggal dan kalau konteks nya menghina (terus2an), ya akirnya kata tsb berubah menjadi spesies baru dan berkonotasi negatif.

Kata kata/istilah lain yg mengalami nasib yg sama (arti aslinya netral/bagus tetapi menjadi berkonotasi jelek karena pengunaan di media barat yg salah dan disengaja ) misalnya istilah jihad(ist) dan fundamentalist.

Bagaimana cara meng counter nya yah apakah harus lebih sering sering menggunakan istilah yg sama tetapi dalam konteks yang lebih positif ?

^berarti "indon" itu udah terlanjur terpeyorasi..
kenapa juga harus pake "indon" klo ada kata lain yang baik untuk dijadikan panggilan??
kan mereka bisa membedakan chinese-indonesia and native indonesia just by using those words (chinese-indonesia, native indonesia)
lagipula kenapa juga harus dibeda2in?? toh sama2 orang indonesia no matter what their race is..

^
Indon tuh dipake di Malaysia... -_-

Indon Vs Malas/Malasi/Mamal

^well, klo gitu lo ga ada bedanya sama orang malaysia itu. buktiin dong klo orang indonesia itu punya tata krama --memanggil orang lain dengan nama baik.

Kata INDON itu sering dipakai pada "headline" surat kabar Malaysia dengan konteks negatif.

misal:
Pendatang Haram Indon Diusir
Pembantu Indon Bunuh Majikan
Jerebu Indon Sampai Malaysia
dll.

Pada mulanya bagi orang Malaysia mungkin kata Indon itu netral, cara ringkas menyebut Indonesia.
Tapi berkat maraknya "headline" berita seperti itu, Kedutaan Besar Indonesia merasa bahwa sebutan itu berkonotasi negatif dan berkesan menghina.

someone should start a petition and send it to the media in malaysia informing them of how Indonesians find the word Indons offensive.



cos it's obvious they don't realise. they wouldn't like it if Indonesians called them kuala (say koala) lumps (as in poop) or would they??

betul. apalagi berita yg negatif lebih sering dimuat daripada berita positif, seperti juga dalam industri media di manapun.
anehnya giliran Dewa, Radja, SO7, KD etc nyebutnya Indonesia. malu ati kali klo ngefans sama something indon

human language though, naturally evolves.

if they like their style of reeking out some of their inelegance.

then let them be.

blame t. afif for this.

aku lebih senang dibilang indo daripada "indon", kesannya sinis kalo dipangil indon.
sejarahnya kita dibilang indon gimana sihh?? jgn2 cuma karena sentimen aja

perhaps the thing is there's an ambiguity when they use the term 'indonesia' and 'indon'. As Joko said when they talk about our music/entertainment industry (which like indonesian invasion), they use term 'indonesian' but when they talk about our negativities they use term' indon'. It's just inconsistency of mind.

daripada Indon, London aja! *norak mode on*

yup 9w stUju bgt sama eLo.. Indon tuh Kesannya kek gmna gtu like indon=adonan,,, i prefer beeing called indo ofkors,, instead of tht freaky name indon - adonan kue,,

its pretty annoying tho I mean East Timor has the same amount of word but they don't call them Etim

Well, my dear..

INDON word is a better word than INDO

INDON word shows the world that we are Malay people. On the contrary, INDO word shows the world that Dutch colonialize our people for 350 years. I don't think we should feel proud about this. I know, most of us will feel happy to be called Indo because we want look like White Westeners. We want our skin color look white bright, not dark brown. But, my dear..... We are who we are. We are Malay people. Try to look like White Westeners who have white skin is not a good thing.

Indon is the best word to call our people, not Indo.

^ the same reason i dont like coming to malaysian/indonesian chat ... tooo many white worshipers

Funny...
Of course, in Japanesse, Indo means India also.

You are very stupid, cockroach-boy. We Indonesian people do not want to be called "Indon" or "Indo". "Indon" is an insulting term made by cockroach Malaysians akin to "N*gga", while "Indo" means Eurasians in Indonesia. Both of these terms are unacceptable and anyone calling Indonesians as "Indons" deserve to be attacked.

We Indonesians only accept being called "Indonesians".

Can your brain understand my words, cockroach-boy?

Whuih.... nongol lagi arch-enemy of Purnomor....

Hajar Bleh.....

^^ Damn Why isn't she banned yet?

indomobil, indosat, indomie, indofood, indogamers...etc
bukan indonmobil, indonsat, indonmie, indonfood, indogamers......

mengerti???

Just blame her. Don't blame Malaysia ok. Fanatics

Of course, pur was only stating that the term was invented by Malaysians. No hard feeling, k!

most Indonesian in california doesn't mind when ppl call us INDO, but I don't know about Indon, no one has ever call me that

the people who doesn't change Indon to Indo are uneducatedly Stubborn

wow, indonesians in cali? i live in cali and i have yet to see an indo

go to west covina....right next hongkong plaza,there are lot of indo restaurants there....you will find lot of indonesian there....

From Malaysian Serious Talk in reply to the same topic.


Aneh. Indonesia pun guna juga?

Any comments?

It's easier to pronounce Indon than Indo. Besides, we don't mean anything.
Maka, orang-orang Indon janganlah mudah emosional.

Still using that name?Dear God!If someone is offended with the name u call them, would u continue calling them that name?I'm sure if u respect them, u wouldn't. You are still using the name although we'v asked u no to. Obviously, u have no respect for Indonesia. Fine. Maybe we don't have to respect Malaysia either.
Okay guys!Let's find a new and degrading name for Malaysia!

Yeah, let's just call Malaysia as "Malasia". It's shorter and easier to pronounce.

malasia banget

Yeah, Malasia would be the most obvious one!

"Kamu malas, ya! "

The thing is, there could be a difference of motives here.


For one, when Malaysians say Indon, we do not mean to degrade you.

When you guys say Malasia, you want to degrade us.


Anyway.

PS: Have you checked out the link before tengkuafif's post? No one's commented on it yet. : /

^ The motive is because "Malasia" is shorter and easier to pronounce.

Basically, Indonesians want to be called "Indonesians", not "Indons".

MALESia would be better...