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Re: Living Timorously: Kose-Kose
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John Holdaway
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Jun 10, 2007 21:31 PDT
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Hi there,
Please excuse the intrusion, I'm new to the list and won't actually =20
arrive in TL until December so I'm still very much a novice when it =20
comes to many of the finer points of the many political sensitivities =20=
that surround East Timorese language policy, but I'm looking to gain =20
a better understanding (hence joining this list) and I had a few =20
questions.
Without doubt, JRH could have made his announcement a little more =20
tactfully and sounded out the idea at home before diving into it in =20
an overseas press conference, but is the idea itself such a bad thing?
=46rom my blissfully ignorant vantage point overseas, it seems like =20
Portuguese should have been something of a disaster as a national =20
language. Has it stratified society and excluded anyone but the =20
elite from political discourse like it sounds like it should have? =20
Is anyone happy with this solution?
The Blog Na'in makes some excellent points in his argument against =20
the increased use of Indonesian in Timorese government and broader =20
society, but is Tetum really ready to be a fully fledged modern =20
language capable of all of the functions that are required of it? =20
(Further disclaimer: I speak absolutely no Tetum whatsoever, I only =20
know 3 words, two of which are 'kose' and 'kose')
A modern language needs to be a language of education. Can you =20
discuss sub-derivations and discharge rules of formal logic in =20
Tetum? I'm sure you could work it out, but having to invent much of =20
the jargon rather than learning the meaning of the very specific =20
terms would take a while. You could just work out regular rules for =20
Tetum-ising English words or just pronounce English words differently =20=
as Indonesian has done (reformasi, administrasi, festival, toilet, =20
publik, film) but what about more abstract philosophy? 'Empiricism', =20=
'deontology', 'utilitarianism', 'hermeutic', 'proposition', and =20
'metaphysics' are all words that an English speaking first year =20
philosophy student needs to learn to use properly, this is not so =20
hard for an English speaker because many of the words have =20
derivations that we are familiar with. Loan words are not as easy to =20=
remember as words from the original language. For me 'schadenfreude' =20=
is harder to remember than 'constructivist' though both may be =20
equally new. And this is just one field of education, what about =20
engineering, economics, computer science, etc.?
A modern language needs to be a language of government =20
administration. Can you really discuss economic policy in Tetum to =20
the level that is required? Can national government draft =20
sufficiently unambiguous laws and policies such that sub-national =20
governments know how to use their budgets, and insurance agencies =20
know what they're allowed to insure, and investors know what they are =20=
allowed to invest in, and citizens can understand their tax obligations?
A modern language also needs to be a language of law. How do you =20
say 'American Style Option' in Tetum? My experience with dual =20
language legal documents in Indonesian has led me to think that =20
Indonesian is barely able to cope with all of the requirements of a =20
language of law (there was a lot of 'American Style Option's and =20
'Conflict of Interest's on the Indonesian side of the page). Also, =20
don't underestimate the added costs and complications that having =20
legal documents in two or even three (god forbid) languages adds to a =20=
negotiation process.
Assuming all of the above are possible in Tetum, or can be made =20
possible with a larger investment of resources in Timor's language =20
planning institutions, you still have the issue of isolation from the =20=
rest of the world. Is national pride worth excluding the Timorese =20
people from the international discourse in the above fields (or at =20
least giving them another barrier to cross)?
Is the idea of Tetum as an analogue of the Indonesian concept of a =20
regional language really so distasteful? Indonesia is such a huge =20
complicated country, that they can't afford to spend time on the =20
developing a custom solution for each regional language, hence the =20
blunt instrument of the current regional language policy. Many of =20
Indonesia's regional languages are alive and well, perhaps the =20
Timorese government could find a similar happy medium...
I can never hope to see things from the same point of view as the =20
Timorese resistance fighters who may now be faced with having to read =20=
their daily news and see their friends and family use domestically =20
produced products labeled in Indonesian, and I can't really gain a =20
visceral understanding of how distasteful this may be for them, but =20
to me it really seems like this might be just another detour that TL =20
doesn't need on their journey to prosperity.
It's not my decision to make though. Good luck with it...
Thanks,
John
On 08/06/2007, at 9:23 PM, ETAN wrote:
| |
Living Timorously
Friday, 8 June 2007
<http://livingtimorously.blogspot.com/2007/06/kose-kose.html>Kose-Kose
One of my favourite Tetum words is 'kose-kose', which literally =20
means 'wipe-wipe', but translates as creepy-crawly, toady, or =20
sycophant. I never thought I would ever use it to describe Jos=E9 =20
Ramos Horta in his dealings with Indonesia, but it seems very apt.
Do I have a problem with East Timor having close links with =20
Indonesia? Not at all. What I do, however, find distasteful is the =20
way that the new President has been behaving as a 'kose-kose', =20
ingratiating himself with his hosts in an undignified and entirely =20
unnecessary way. When he was in exile, Horta wrote of how he was =20
offered the chance to return to East Timor as an Indonesian-=20
appointed governor of the '27th Province', yet the way he has been =20
behaving in the last few days is more befitting of the pro-=20
integration East Timorese in the 1970s.
Recently Horta has started learning Indonesian. Nothing wrong with =20
that, he should have done it years ago. Funnily enough, Mari =20
Alkatiri, blamed for the Portuguese language policy, was one of the =20=
|
| | few people in East Timor who spoke it before the invasion, as the =20
small Arab Muslim minority spoke a Malay dialect. Xanana Gusm=E3o =20
only learned Indonesian in prison.
However, with all the zeal of the convert, Horta now says "I intend =20=
|
| | to push for greater use of Bahasa Indonesian [sic] in public =20
administration", adding that the East Timorese should use it in =20
official communications. "Slowly, gradually, I will push for it to =20
be used more and more".
My concern is not that this will have a negative effect on =20
Portuguese, but that it will have a negative effect on Tetum, =20
which, since 1999, has developed as a written language. This has =20
been a very positive development, but you would be hard pressed to =20
read anything about it in the foreign media, which find =20
disagreements over language more newsworthy.
The previous government's practice of not recognising Tetum as a =20
fully fledged official language, and only having documents and =20
signs in Portuguese was an embarrassment. But using Indonesian =20
would be even worse for Tetum, which would once again be relegated =20
to the same inferior status as Indonesia's regional languages. Of =20
course the move would be popular with Indonesian-educated people, =20
but it would be a huge disincentive to promote and develop Tetum as =20=
|
| | a modern written language, and undermine its position as the =20
national lingua franca.
Horta also said that Indonesian television should become available =20
in East Timor's districts. By all means, but in case he hasn't =20
noticed, people already watch it via satellite, not least outside =20
of Dili where there is no live terrestrial television signal at =20
all. (As a result, people know more about goings-on in their giant =20
neighbour than in their own country.) Shouldn't increasing the =20
availability of East Timor's own television and radio service =20
outside the capital be a greater priority, not to mention =20
increasing local programming, in local languages?
Those with a fetish for realpolitik point out that East Timor does =20
most of its trade with Indonesia, to which my answer is: so what? =20
Why should that mean that East Timor should just become a cultural =20
satellite of Indonesia?
The mini-state of Andorra, wedged between France and Spain, is =20
totally dependent on its neighbours for trade, transport and =20
defence, yet has always maintained Catalan as its official =20
language, even when the Jacobins in France and Franco in Spain were =20=
|
| | trying to wipe it out.
Luxembourg has a customs union with Belgium, but proudly maintains =20
its own language, Luxembourgish, alongside French and German. =20
Luxembourg's multilingual education system, incidentally, would a =20
good model for East Timor: in addition to learning the three =20
official languages, children learn English and another European =20
language.
Sure, Indonesian products are readily available and cheap to buy, =20
not only for people in East Timor, but even people in the UK. In a =20
supermarket in the English Midlands, I saw bottles of shampoo =20
produced in Indonesia, complete with price tag in rupiah, on sale. =20
(I can't remember what the price was, but the importer must have =20
made quite a mark-up.)
Personally, I look forward to the day that labelling and packaging =20
will be in Tetum. Not economically viable? Tell that to people in =20
Iceland, who buy local products with labelling and packaging in =20
Icelandic, despite their country having only 250 000 people. And =20
even if it isn't viable, at least not yet, who cares? After all, =20
not many people in Derby, apart from my brother, can understand =20
Indonesian, but there's not much risk that they're going to mistake =20=
|
| | shampoo from Indonesia for salad dressing.
East Timor's relations with Indonesia are already in very good =20
shape, so why must Jos=E9 be a 'kose-kose'?
[This message was distributed via the east-timor news list. For =20
info on how to subscribe send a blank e-mail to in-@etan.org. To =20
support ETAN see http://etan.org/etan/donate.htm ]
|
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<HTML><BODY style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; =
-khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV>Hi there,</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Please excuse the =
intrusion, I'm new to the list and won't actually arrive in TL until =
December so I'm still very much a novice when it comes to many of the =
finer points of the many political sensitivities that surround East =
Timorese language policy, but I'm looking to gain a better understanding =
(hence joining this list) and I had a few questions.</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Without doubt, JRH could =
have made his announcement a little more tactfully and sounded out the =
idea at home before diving into it in an overseas press conference, but =
is the idea itself such a bad thing?</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>=46rom my blissfully =
ignorant vantage point overseas, it seems like=A0Portuguese=A0should =
have been something of a disaster as a national language.=A0 Has it =
stratified society and excluded anyone but the elite from political =
discourse like it sounds like it should have?=A0 Is anyone happy with =
this solution?</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The Blog Na'in makes some =
excellent points in his argument against the increased use of Indonesian =
in Timorese government and broader society, but is Tetum really ready to =
be a fully fledged modern language capable of all of the functions that =
are required of it?=A0 (Further disclaimer: I speak absolutely no Tetum =
whatsoever, I only know 3 words, two of which are 'kose' and =
'kose')</DIV><DIV><BR class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>A =
modern language needs to be a language of education.=A0 Can you discuss =
sub-derivations and discharge rules of formal logic in Tetum?=A0 I'm =
sure you could work it out, but having to invent much of the jargon =
rather than learning the meaning of the very specific terms would take a =
while.=A0 You could just work out regular rules for Tetum-ising English =
words or just pronounce English words differently as Indonesian has done =
(reformasi, administrasi, festival, toilet, publik, film) but what about =
more abstract philosophy?=A0 'Empiricism', 'deontology', =
'utilitarianism', 'hermeutic', 'proposition', and 'metaphysics' are all =
words that an English speaking first year philosophy student needs to =
learn to use properly, this is not so hard for an English speaker =
because many of the words have derivations that we are familiar with.=A0 =
Loan words are not as easy to remember as words from the original =
language.=A0 For me 'schadenfreude' is harder to remember than =
'constructivist' though both may be equally new.=A0 And this is just one =
field of education, what about engineering, economics, computer science, =
etc.?</DIV><DIV><BR class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>A =
modern language needs to be a language of government administration.=A0 =
Can you really discuss economic policy in Tetum to the level that is =
required?=A0 Can national government draft sufficiently unambiguous laws =
and policies such that sub-national governments know how to use their =
budgets, and insurance agencies know what they're allowed to insure, and =
investors know what they are allowed to invest in, and citizens can =
understand their tax obligations?</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><SPAN =
class=3D"Apple-style-span">A modern language also needs to be a language =
of law.=A0 =A0How do you say 'American Style Option' in Tetum?=A0 My =
experience with dual language legal documents in Indonesian has led me =
to think that Indonesian is barely able to cope with all of the =
requirements of a language of law (there was a lot of '<I>American Style =
Option</I>'s and '<I>Conflict of Interest'</I>s=A0on the Indonesian side =
of the page).=A0 Also, don't underestimate the added costs and =
complications that having legal documents in two or even three (god =
forbid) languages adds to a negotiation process.</SPAN></DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Assuming all of the above =
are possible in Tetum, or can be made possible with a larger investment =
of resources in Timor's language planning institutions, you still have =
the issue of isolation from the rest of the world.=A0 Is national pride =
worth excluding the Timorese people from the international discourse in =
the above fields (or at least giving them another barrier to =
cross)?</DIV><DIV><BR class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Is =
the idea of Tetum as an analogue of the Indonesian concept of a regional =
language really so distasteful?=A0 Indonesia is such a huge complicated =
country, that they can't afford to spend time on the developing a custom =
solution for each regional language, hence the blunt instrument of the =
current regional language policy.=A0 Many of Indonesia's regional =
languages are alive and well, perhaps the Timorese government could find =
a similar happy medium...</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I can never hope to see =
things from the same point of view as the Timorese resistance fighters =
who may now be faced with having to read their daily news and see their =
friends and family use domestically produced products labeled in =
Indonesian, and I can't really gain a visceral understanding of how =
distasteful this may be for them, but to me it really seems like this =
might be just another detour that TL doesn't need on their journey to =
prosperity.</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>It's not my decision to =
make though.=A0 Good luck with it...</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Thanks,</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>John</DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On =
08/06/2007, at 9:23 PM, ETAN wrote:</DIV><BR =
class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE =
type=3D"cite"><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Living =
Timorously</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Friday, 8 June =
2007</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV><<A =
href=3D"http://livingtimorously.blogspot.com/2007/06/kose-kose.html">http:=
//livingtimorously.blogspot.com/2007/06/kose-kose.html</A>>Kose-Kose</D=
IV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>One of my favourite Tetum words is 'kose-kose', =
which literally means 'wipe-wipe', but translates as creepy-crawly, =
toady, or sycophant. I never thought I would ever use it to describe =
Jos=E9 Ramos Horta in his dealings with Indonesia, but it seems very =
apt.</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Do I have a problem with East Timor having =
close links with Indonesia? Not at all. What I do, however, find =
distasteful is the way that the new President has been behaving as a =
'kose-kose', ingratiating himself with his hosts in an undignified and =
entirely unnecessary way. When he was in exile, Horta wrote of how he =
was offered the chance to return to East Timor as an =
Indonesian-appointed governor of the '27th Province', yet the way he has =
been behaving in the last few days is more befitting of the =
pro-integration East Timorese in the =
1970s.</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Recently Horta has started learning =
Indonesian. Nothing wrong with that, he should have done it years ago. =
Funnily enough, Mari Alkatiri, blamed for the Portuguese language =
policy, was one of the few people in East Timor who spoke it before the =
invasion, as the small Arab Muslim minority spoke a Malay dialect. =
Xanana Gusm=E3o only learned Indonesian in =
prison.</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>However, with all the zeal of the =
convert, Horta now says "I intend to push for greater use of Bahasa =
Indonesian [sic] in public administration", adding that the East =
Timorese should use it in official communications. "Slowly, gradually, I =
will push for it to be used more and more".</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>My =
concern is not that this will have a negative effect on Portuguese, but =
that it will have a negative effect on Tetum, which, since 1999, has =
developed as a written language. This has been a very positive =
development, but you would be hard pressed to read anything about it in =
the foreign media, which find disagreements over language more =
newsworthy.</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>The previous government's practice =
of not recognising Tetum as a fully fledged official language, and only =
having documents and signs in Portuguese was an embarrassment. But using =
Indonesian would be even worse for Tetum, which would once again be =
relegated to the same inferior status as Indonesia's regional languages. =
Of course the move would be popular with Indonesian-educated people, but =
it would be a huge disincentive to promote and develop Tetum as a modern =
written language, and undermine its position as the national lingua =
franca.</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Horta also said that Indonesian =
television should become available in East Timor's districts. By all =
means, but in case he hasn't noticed, people already watch it via =
satellite, not least outside of Dili where there is no live terrestrial =
television signal at all. (As a result, people know more about goings-on =
in their giant neighbour than in their own country.) Shouldn't =
increasing the availability of East Timor's own television and radio =
service outside the capital be a greater priority, not to mention =
increasing local programming, in local =
languages?</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Those with a fetish for realpolitik =
point out that East Timor does most of its trade with Indonesia, to =
which my answer is: so what? Why should that mean that East Timor should =
just become a cultural satellite of =
Indonesia?</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>The mini-state of Andorra, wedged =
between France and Spain, is totally dependent on its neighbours for =
trade, transport and defence, yet has always maintained Catalan as its =
official language, even when the Jacobins in France and Franco in Spain =
were trying to wipe it out.</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Luxembourg has a =
customs union with Belgium, but proudly maintains its own language, =
Luxembourgish, alongside French and German. Luxembourg's multilingual =
education system, incidentally, would a good model for East Timor: in =
addition to learning the three official languages, children learn =
English and another European language.</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Sure, =
Indonesian products are readily available and cheap to buy, not only for =
people in East Timor, but even people in the UK. In a supermarket in the =
English Midlands, I saw bottles of shampoo produced in Indonesia, =
complete with price tag in rupiah, on sale. (I can't remember what the =
price was, but the importer must have made quite a =
mark-up.)</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>Personally, I look forward to the day =
that labelling and packaging will be in Tetum. Not economically viable? =
Tell that to people in Iceland, who buy local products with labelling =
and packaging in Icelandic, despite their country having only 250 000 =
people. And even if it isn't viable, at least not yet, who cares? After =
all, not many people in Derby, apart from my brother, can understand =
Indonesian, but there's not much risk that they're going to mistake =
shampoo from Indonesia for salad dressing.</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>East =
Timor's relations with Indonesia are already in very good shape, so why =
must Jos=E9 be a 'kose-kose'?</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><DIV>[This message was =
distributed via the east-timor news list. For info on how to subscribe =
send a blank e-mail to in-@etan.org. To support ETAN see <A =
href=3D"http://etan.org/etan/donate.htm">http://etan.org/etan/donate.htm</=
A> ]</DIV><DIV><BR></DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>=
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