An intermezzo about the session with the Minister of Education: Generalization is (sometimes) irrelevant

This is an intermezzo of the session held last Sunday with the Minister of Education. He said that we should have courtesy to other people. He added that we should give proper addressing to others especially for Indonesian leaders, for instance, he continued, we could simply put "Pak", "Bu" or "Bung" before the name of presidents of Indonesia. He said, it should be like that as that was also how we address our parents. He stated that (for Indonesians) it was impossible to call our parents just by his name.

Hmm.... there are two things I want to underline. The first one, I agree that we should give appropriate tribute to other people and especially our leaders. And the example he gave was true in term of Indonesian (language). However, this is the second thing, he generalized the culture of Indonesia already. It was a rush conclusion of him to negate the possibility that there are other ways to pay respect for others. Actually, it is possible to address parents just by name in Indonesia, depends on the culture where it belongs. It does not mean they who have the culture are offensive to their parents.

The example I want to give is how people in Bima address their elders. If we look back to the root of its culture, someone would address their parents, their aunts, their uncles, or whosoever older people just by their name. For example my mother's name is Sumarni, so it is possible for me to call her simply by saying "Nau", which is taken from "Ni", the last syllable of "Sumarni". For her children, to call her "Nau" is more than enough for paying a respect to her. It is true there are other ways to address elders in Bima, for instance to put "Dae", "Aji", "Ummi", or "Guru" in the front of one's name. However other additional salutations are actually very casuistic, depend on the situation. "Dae" is actually the salutation for royal family which later also adopted by common people to address their elders. "Aji" and "Ummi" are given to them who already perform pilgrimage to Mecca. This tradition is a form of culture acculturation when Islam spread in Bima. "Guru" is the salutation for a teacher or a lecturer. The same situation also happen in Lombok. Once, people used to address their elders simply by call their names. That what I saw in my village back then when I was childhood.

However, filtration of other culture from television and newcomers somehow has been scraping the root of the tradition. Nowadays, it is hardly to hear youngsters use the old way to salute the elders. They may think, it is inappropriate. Everybody, now is in uniform way to talk. This is unfortunate matter for the wealth of culture, I think.

Anyway, it is wise to consider considerately what we conclude about. Generalization is (sometimes) irrelevant!