senang (happy uncle) is a man who seeks stimulation from younger women for a price.
Both characters became prominent during the 1970s heyday of the economic boom in oil-rich Indonesia. Buoyed by the rise in global oil prices, the elite had lots of money to splurge on good times. Some people frowned on amorous adventures, warning of the deterioration of family values and neglect of children.
Waria (acronym)
WAnita-pRIA
Woman-man = A transvestite/transsexual.
Bencong is another popular term.
Many cross-dressers work as hairdressers and specialize in bridal makeup. Some sing on stage or patrol streets and bars as prostitutes. They await clients at Taman Lawang, a traffic roundabout in Jakarta where trees and bushes offer discretion. Waria operate on the fringes of society, but enjoy a degree of acceptance, occasionally appearing on television soap operas and advertisements. In the final days of 2005, a group of Muslim women rallied at a local parliament building in Sumatra to protest plans for a New Year’s Eve transvestite concert sponsored by the government.
An older term for transvestite is wadam, a combination of Wanita and Adam. It hasn’t been used much in the last couple of decades.
Arema (acronym)
AREk MAlang
Malang guys.
Men from the town of Malang in the East Javan highlands get raucous when the atmosphere heats up at soccer games. They are some of the rowdiest soccer fans in Indonesia, and are notorious for getting into fights before and after matches. Arek means child in Javanese.
Soccer crowds from Malang are also called bonek, an acronym from the Javanese terms BOndo (collateral, or investment capital) and NEKad (recklessness). They are rich in recklessness, but don’t have much capital to fund their trips to other cities.
The bonek rally their soccer team, also called Arema, at outof-town games.
BTL (pronounced beh-teh-ell)
Batak Tembak Langsung
Batak shoots directly/immediately.
The Batak people of North Sumatra province have a reputation for straight talk. They don’t mince words. This upfront attitude seems abrasive to some Javanese, who are known for skirting a sensitive subject in conversation.
According to folklore, the Batak speak loudly because they once lived in houses near lakes, on mountain slopes, and in other sparsely populated areas. Their houses were set far apart and they had to shout to get their message across. Some Batak live around Lake Toba, the largest lake in Southeast Asia. It was formed by a huge volcanic explosion.
The ethnic spectrum in the stereotype from refined to rough runs from the Central Javanese, to the Sundanese in West Java, to the East Javanese, to the Batak. The Sundanese break down into the Bogor people, who are considered pasar (“market,” or rough), and people from Bandung, who are thought to be refined, a legacy of the Hindu kingdom of Pajajaran that reigned over West Java centuries ago. Bandung is also home to many universities.
Bulai/Bule
Albino/white foreigner.
Javanese believe albino animals are sacred, and parade white buffalo (kebo bulai) in a show of thanksgiving every Javanese New Year. Like the Muslim calendar, the Javanese calendar is based on the cycles of the moon.
Bule is a colloquial term for white foreigner. It can be neutral, affectionate or derogatory. Some foreigners bristle at the expression because it dumps them into a racial category. Indonesians often shout “Halo bule!” and “Hello, mister!” at foreigners on the street. Many Indonesians have had little contact with foreigners, and yell because they don’t know how else to attract attention.
Another old term for Caucasian is belanda (Dutch) or londo (Dutch, in Javanese). It doesn’t matter whether the white person is Dutch or not. The terms emerged during Dutch rule in Indonesia, which began on Java in the 17th century and ended after Indonesian nationalists declared independence in 1945. In 1949, the Dutch acknowledged Indonesian sovereignty after several years of war.
A foreigner is orang asing (alien person). The term also applies to Indonesians who travel to distant parts of the archipelago, home to hundreds of ethnic groups. These out-of-towners look different and speak their own language. Those with very dark skin might be from remote Papua, at the eastern tip of Indonesia. People with pale skin could be from North Sulawesi province, where Chinese influence is heavy.
A long time ago, most Indonesians rarely strayed from their kampung (village) and had little contact with outsiders. Trade, modern communications and the population shift to the cities changed that over the last few decades. Under President Suharto, millions of Javanese left their crowded island and fanned out across Indonesia under a policy called transmigrasi. The policy reinforced government control over outlying areas, but created tension between local populations and Javanese migrants who took land and power.
Kumpeni
Company.
A derogatory term for Dutch people and other Westerners. It comes from Perserikatan Kumpeni Hindia Timur, which means Dutch East India Company in Malay. Established in 1602, the trading company planted its headquarters on Java and served as an instrument of Dutch power in the region, trading in spices such as nutmeg and cloves, as well as tea, silk and other products. Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, as the company was called in Dutch, dissolved in 1798 and Indonesia fell under the direct administration of the Dutch government.
Javanese referred to the company simply as Kumpeni. Today, an Indonesian who wants to shirk a chore says:
“Relax. The Company is still far away.”
Tenang. Kumpeni masih jauh.
The implication is that the Dutch aren’t about to invade, so what’s the rush?
Vermak Levis
Jeans changer = A tailor who specializes in altering Levis and other jeans.
Vermak comes from vermaken (change, or turn), one of many Dutch words that were picked up by Indonesians during the colonial occupation.
Not every tailor has needles strong enough to alter jeans. Those who do hang a Vermak Levis sign in their shops or offer services on the roadside, equipped with only sewing machines. Others attach sewing machines—the kind with the wheel and the foot pedal—to their bicycles and offer door-to-door service. These Vermak Levis are easily identified by the red Levis emblem on their signboards.
You might see signs that say Permak Lepis, especially if the tailor is a Sundanese from West Java. Sundanese have trouble pronouncing the consonants v, f and p, and sometimes mix them up.
Raja
King.
The Hindi term pops up in many contexts: raja jalanan (king of the road), or a high-speed, reckless driver; raja dan ratu sehari (king and queen for a day), or a bride and groom on a wedding day; and raja copet (king of pickpockets).
Raja singa (lion king) means top dog. It also refers to syphilis, the king of sexual diseases. The expression predates the era of AIDS.
Nearly
