Asal Nama Indonesia
Day after tomorrow is our independence day. My Indonesia...is going to be 63 years old. Pretty mature for a nation. It does almost reach it's end of journey as a nation unless we do something to save it. That is another story. Right now is the story of the name "Indonesia"
The other day I read a posting in one of the milists, about an elementary school teacher in Kalimantan asking the foreign minister about the etymology of "Indonesia". What really surprised me was that...a teacher doesn't know the history of the name "Indonesia"! But wait a minute...I recall I had this difficulty explaining the name Indonesia at the BABA retreat last February! Hahaha....we're even Pak...
Here's my explanation to Bijen, an Indian fellow who tested my knowledge on Indonesia when I presented a country report on Indonesia. At first I didn't expect to receive that fundamental question. My country report was about the current development and some common good found in the society, to be compared to those Asian countries we're about to discuss. But Bijen who was so convinced that Indonesia name derived from India, suddenly asked me about the ethiology of the name.
I panicked first. But Debby wasn't Debby if she's not trying to provide answers to everything even if the answers are flawed. Answer first, truth later. Hehehe. So I answered him. Told him and the audience about the archipelago nature of Indonesia, located between the 2 oceans: Indian and Pacific oceans. The Dutch named this archipelago area "The Netherlandsche Indische" (hope I spell it right). When the intellectuals of the netherlandsche indische felt the urge to build a nation represented the greatness of majapahit kingdom centuries ago, they were inspired by the "indische" and "nesos" (archipelago) words. Suddenly the name "Indonesia" popped up in the early 1920s, and by October 28, 1928, youths represented parts of Indonesia proclaimed "Youth Oath" that they admitted only one island, one nation, and one language: Indonesia. And that answer satisfied the audience (hopefully!).
The truth answer is much more complex (and complete of course). Wanna know a more complete one about Indonesia? Proceed to wikipedia!
Happy Independence Day!
The other day I read a posting in one of the milists, about an elementary school teacher in Kalimantan asking the foreign minister about the etymology of "Indonesia". What really surprised me was that...a teacher doesn't know the history of the name "Indonesia"! But wait a minute...I recall I had this difficulty explaining the name Indonesia at the BABA retreat last February! Hahaha....we're even Pak...
Here's my explanation to Bijen, an Indian fellow who tested my knowledge on Indonesia when I presented a country report on Indonesia. At first I didn't expect to receive that fundamental question. My country report was about the current development and some common good found in the society, to be compared to those Asian countries we're about to discuss. But Bijen who was so convinced that Indonesia name derived from India, suddenly asked me about the ethiology of the name.
I panicked first. But Debby wasn't Debby if she's not trying to provide answers to everything even if the answers are flawed. Answer first, truth later. Hehehe. So I answered him. Told him and the audience about the archipelago nature of Indonesia, located between the 2 oceans: Indian and Pacific oceans. The Dutch named this archipelago area "The Netherlandsche Indische" (hope I spell it right). When the intellectuals of the netherlandsche indische felt the urge to build a nation represented the greatness of majapahit kingdom centuries ago, they were inspired by the "indische" and "nesos" (archipelago) words. Suddenly the name "Indonesia" popped up in the early 1920s, and by October 28, 1928, youths represented parts of Indonesia proclaimed "Youth Oath" that they admitted only one island, one nation, and one language: Indonesia. And that answer satisfied the audience (hopefully!).
The truth answer is much more complex (and complete of course). Wanna know a more complete one about Indonesia? Proceed to wikipedia!
Happy Independence Day!
posted by Deb | 8:08 am
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