TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan suggested replacing foreign terms into regional words. For example, the word underpass to be brobos from the Javanese language.

“I give an example, the underpass in regional language or Java is brobos. But, it’s not exactly correct,” said Anies Baswedan in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, Monday, December 10.

He suggested Language Development and Training Agency of the Culture and Education Ministry look for regional words to describe a certain activity. Therefore, foreign terms did not recklessly translate into Indonesian.

According to Anies Baswedan, there are a total of 668 unused local words that can be adopted. “That is a great vocabulary supplier, it will be unfortunate if we do not use it,” he noted.

The city administration, he mentioned, substituted English words into Indonesian, for example, the Mass Rapid Transit to be Moda Raya Terpadu (MRT). Besides, PT MRT also used Indonesian terms in replacement of 58 foreign names for the train signs.

Anies also named integrated transportation program as Jak Lingko. Lingko is a word taken from the farm irrigation system in Manggarai District, East Nusa Tenggara which meant connected.

For the effort, Ministry of Culture and Education honored Reksa Bahasa (mutual language) award to Jakarta provincial administration. Anies Baswedan on Monday, December 10, received the award.

LANI DIANA WIJAYA