147-418: West Timor ( Indonesian : Timor Barat ) is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor , except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave ). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia . The capital as well as its main port is Kupang . During the colonial period, the area was named Dutch Timor and was a centre of Dutch loyalists during
294-716: A lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for half a millennium. It might be attributed to its ancestor , the Old Malay language (which can be traced back to the 7th century). The Kedukan Bukit Inscription is the oldest surviving specimen of Old Malay, the language used by Srivijayan empire. Since the 7th century, the Old Malay language has been used in Nusantara (archipelago) (Indonesian archipelago), evidenced by Srivijaya inscriptions and by other inscriptions from coastal areas of
441-602: A united Timor . There were conflicts between the different Timorese kingdoms, which already had their roots in pre-colonial times. Various reasons could then lead to the outbreak of armed conflicts between the Timorese. For example, the Mold and the Miomafo in south-central West Timor fought over gold mines between 1760 and 1782. From 1864 to 1870, Sonba'i and the Sorbian of Amfo'an fought over
588-454: A few cases, however, coinings permanently replaced earlier Dutch terms, including pajak (earlier meaning 'monopoly') instead of belasting (tax) and senam (meaning 'exercise') instead of gimnastik (gymnastics). The Komisi Bahasa is said to have coined more than 7000 terms, although few of these gained common acceptance. The adoption of Indonesian as the country's national language was in contrast to most other post-colonial states. Neither
735-523: A fifth regency – Malaka – was in December 2012 formed from the southern half of Belu Regency. Note the administrative area has shrunk as Rote Ndao Regency (Rote and Ndao islands to the southwest) and Sabu Raijua Regency (the Savu Islands further west) were split off in 2002 and 2009 respectively from Kupang Regency. The island accounts for 35.5% of the provincial population. The population in this region
882-498: A large proportion of Indonesian, at least, use two language daily, those are Indonesian and local languages. When two languages are used by the same people in this way, they are likely to influence each other. Aside from local languages, Dutch made the highest contribution to the Indonesian vocabulary, due to the Dutch colonization over three centuries, from the 16th century until the mid-20th century. Asian languages also influenced
1029-465: A lingua franca between vernacular Malay dialects, Malay creoles, and regional languages. The Indonesian name for the language ( bahasa Indonesia ) is also occasionally used in English and other languages. Bahasa Indonesia is sometimes improperly reduced to Bahasa , which refers to the Indonesian subject ( Bahasa Indonesia ) taught in schools, on the assumption that this is the name of the language. But
1176-427: A looser sense, it also encompasses the various local varieties spoken throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Standard Indonesian is confined mostly to formal situations, existing in a diglossic relationship with vernacular Malay varieties, which are commonly used for daily communication, coexisting with the aforementioned regional languages and with Malay creoles ; standard Indonesian is spoken in informal speech as
1323-422: A monophthong followed by an approximant, so ⟨ai⟩ represents /aj/ , ⟨au⟩ represents /aw/ , and ⟨oi⟩ represents /oj/ . On this basis, there are no phonological diphthongs in Indonesian. Diphthongs are differentiated from two vowels in two syllables, such as: Ant%C3%B3nio de Abreu António de Abreu ( c. 1480 – c. 1514 )
1470-413: A musket shot in the face, he lost several teeth and part of his tongue but indignantly refused Albuquerque's request to hand over his command. In November 1511, after sending ambassadors to Pegu and Siam one month before leaving Malacca, Albuquerque trusted Abreu with the command of a fleet of four ships sailing in search of the " Spice Islands ". Abreu was captain-major in the ship Santa Catarina ,
1617-616: A power on the island. Two clans, the Hornay and the Costa , at times controlled large parts of Timor, which was not without conflict between them. In 1640, the Dutch built their first fortress on Timor near Kupang and the political division of the island began. Kupang Bay was considered the best natural harbour on the entire island. From 1642, a simple fort again protected the Portuguese post. Two Dutch attacks on it failed in 1644. For better defence,
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#17328550615621764-598: A result of the southward expansion of Austronesian peoples into Maritime Southeast Asia from the island of Taiwan . Indonesian, which originated from Malay, is a member of the Austronesian family of languages, which includes languages from Southeast Asia , the Pacific Ocean and Madagascar , with a smaller number in continental Asia . It has a degree of mutual intelligibility with the Malaysian standard of Malay, which
1911-613: A rift between the two standardized varieties. This has been based more upon political nuance and the history of their standardization than cultural reasons, and as a result, there are asymmetrical views regarding each other's variety among Malaysians and Indonesians. Malaysians tend to assert that Malaysian and Indonesian are merely different normative varieties of the same language, while Indonesians tend to treat them as separate, albeit closely related, languages. Consequently, Indonesians feel little need to harmonise their language with Malaysia and Brunei, whereas Malaysians are keener to coordinate
2058-461: A significant influence on the development of Malay in the colony: during the colonial era, the language that would be standardized as Indonesian absorbed a large amount of Dutch vocabulary in the form of loanwords . The nationalist movement that ultimately brought Indonesian to its national language status rejected Dutch from the outset. However, the rapid disappearance of Dutch was a very unusual case compared with other colonized countries, where
2205-560: A system which treats the open-mid vowels / ɛ / and / ɔ / as distinct phonemes. Poedjosoedarmo argued the split of the front mid vowels in Indonesian is due to Javanese influence which exhibits a difference between ⟨i⟩ [ i ], ⟨é⟩ [ e ] and è [ ɛ ]. Another example of Javanese influence in Indonesian is the split of back mid vowels into two allophones of [ o ] and [ ɔ ]. These splits (and loanwords) increase instances of doublets in Indonesian, such as ⟨ satai ⟩ and ⟨ saté ⟩. Javanese words adopted into Indonesian have greatly increased
2352-515: A total number of speakers in Indonesia of 248.5 million. It is common as a first language in urban areas, and as a second language by those residing in more rural parts of Indonesia. The VOA and BBC use Indonesian as their standard for broadcasting in Malay. In Australia , Indonesian is one of three Asian target languages, together with Japanese and Mandarin , taught in some schools as part of
2499-401: Is Pante Macassar . West Timor owes its present appearance to an extremely eventful geological past, the special characteristic of which is large differences in altitude within short distances. More than 60% of the surface of West Timor consists of largely rugged low mountain ranges. Numerous rivers and streams draining the mountainous areas and plateaus have carved deep, V-shaped valleys into
2646-794: Is a standard language of "Riau Malay", which despite its common name is not based on the vernacular Malay dialects of the Riau Islands , but rather represents a form of Classical Malay as used in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the Riau-Lingga Sultanate . Classical Malay had emerged as a literary language in the royal courts along both shores of the Strait of Malacca , including the Johor Sultanate and Malacca Sultanate . Originally spoken in Northeast Sumatra , Malay has been used as
2793-565: Is amplified by the use of Indonesian slang , particularly in the cities. Unlike the relatively uniform standard variety, Vernacular Indonesian exhibits a high degree of geographical variation, though Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian functions as the de facto norm of informal language and is a popular source of influence throughout the archipelago. There is language shift of first language among Indonesian into Indonesian from other language in Indonesia caused by ethnic diversity than urbanicity. The most common and widely used colloquial Indonesian
2940-471: Is categorised as a Papuan language. The Atoin Meto (Atoni) form the dominant population of West Timor. The name Atoin Meto means native or indigenous (indigenous) people ( atoni , human; meto , internal to the culture, native, therefore not foreign). There are also ethnic names such as Atoni Pah Meto , the "people of the dry land", a choice of name that refers to the settlement area, or simply Meto. In literature,
3087-560: Is diverse, consisting of various tribes and ethnicities that have different cultures and languages. The main tribe in West Timor is the Atoni tribe, which is the indigenous population, but there are also immigrant tribes such as the Timorese, Rote, and several others who come from various islands in Nusa Tenggara. According to the latest data, the population of West Timor is around 2 million, with
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#17328550615623234-543: Is heavily influenced by the Betawi language , a Malay-based creole of Jakarta , amplified by its popularity in Indonesian popular culture in mass media and Jakarta's status as the national capital. In informal spoken Indonesian, various words are replaced with those of a less formal nature. For example, tidak (no) is often replaced with the Betawi form nggak or the even simpler gak/ga , while seperti (like, similar to)
3381-421: Is in the vicinity of the border with East Timor and where the main refugee camp was located (see attacks on humanitarian workers ). West Timor is a non-political region that comprises the western half of Timor island (with the exception of Oecusse district , which is politically part of the nation of East Timor ) and forms a part of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara . Most of West Timor belongs to
3528-419: Is named as 'Indonesian language' is a true Malay language derived from 'Riau Malay' but which had been added, modified or subscribed according to the requirements of the new age and nature, until it was then used easily by people across Indonesia; the renewal of Malay language until it became Indonesian it had to be done by the experts of the new nature, the national nature of Indonesia" — Ki Hajar Dewantara in
3675-464: Is officially known there as bahasa Malaysia , despite the numerous lexical differences. However, vernacular varieties spoken in Indonesia and Malaysia share limited intelligibility, which is evidenced by the fact that Malaysians have difficulties understanding Indonesian sinetron (soap opera) aired on Malaysia TV stations, and vice versa. Malagasy , a geographic outlier spoken in Madagascar in
3822-627: Is often replaced with kayak [kajaʔ] . Sangat or amat (very), the term to express intensity, is often replaced with the Javanese-influenced banget . As for pronunciation, the diphthongs ai and au on the end of base words are typically pronounced as /e/ and /o/ . In informal writing, the spelling of words is modified to reflect the actual pronunciation in a way that can be produced with less effort. For example, capai becomes cape or capek , pakai becomes pake , kalau becomes kalo . In verbs,
3969-572: Is one of the Austronesian languages . The same applies to the Helong , who originally inhabited the region around Kupang and were displaced by the Atoin Meto to the far western tip of the island. Around 3000 BC, Melanesians came from the west with a second wave of immigration and brought the oval axe culture to Timor. The Bunak people in the borderland to East Timor are among their descendants. The last peoples to migrate to Timor in prehistoric times were
4116-441: Is one of the few areas in Indonesia that is mainly inhabited by Christians today. Similar to East Timor, Christianity is the religion of the overwhelming majority (94.8%) of the people of West Timor, 54.1% being Protestant and 40.7% being Catholic. Islam is followed by 5%. The remaining 0.2% includes Hindus and Buddhists. Originally, the Timorese were animists . The influence of Islam, which spread throughout South East Asia from
4263-434: Is only spoken in a few villages south of the city along the east coast and on Semau Island . Rotinese, the language from the island of Roti, is split into many dialects. Rotinese can be found in many regions of West Timor due to the resettlement programme carried out by the Dutch in the 19th century. Knowledge of Dutch (the colonial language) is now limited to the older generations. Religion in West Timor (2023) West Timor
4410-494: Is perhaps the only language that has achieved the status of a national language in its true sense" since it truly dominates in all spheres of Indonesian society . The ease with which Indonesia eliminated the language of its former colonial power can perhaps be explained as much by Dutch policy as by Indonesian nationalism. In marked contrast to the French , Spanish and Portuguese, who pursued an assimilation colonial policy, or even
4557-419: Is the official and national language of Indonesia . It is a standardized variety of Malay , an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries. With over 280 million inhabitants, Indonesia ranks as the fourth most populous nation globally. According to the 2020 census, over 97% of Indonesians are fluent in Indonesian, making it
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4704-405: Is very high, at around 80 to 85 per cent. However, a 2001 survey revealed that more than 70 per cent of the population is still rooted in both ancestor worship and belief in spirits. In the east of West Timor (Belu, Malaka and North Central Timor Regency), the proportion of Catholics is significantly higher. For example, 96.5% of the almost 500,000 people in the diocese of Atambua are Catholic. From
4851-553: The British , the Dutch did not attempt to spread their language among the indigenous population. In fact, they consciously prevented the language from being spread by refusing to provide education, especially in Dutch, to the native Indonesians so they would not come to see themselves as equals. Moreover, the Dutch wished to prevent the Indonesians from elevating their perceived social status by taking on elements of Dutch culture. Thus, until
4998-894: The CIA , fought against the central government in Jakarta until it was defeated by Indonesian troops in March 1958. 14 members of Permesta managed to escape to the Portuguese exclave of Oe-Cusse Ambeno. They are said to have been responsible for the Viqueque rebellion in Portuguese Timor in 1959. Local administration remained in the hands of the Liurai until 1958. Despite their later removal from power, their families still have great influence in West Timorese society. Since 1988, there have been increased efforts to develop
5145-653: The Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) opened a branch in Kupang in 1925. There it demanded a reduction in taxes and an end to forced labour, which led to the imprisonment and exile of its leader Christian Pandie . During the Second World War , Timor was occupied by the Japanese Imperial army. On the night of 19‒20 February 1942, Japanese units landed at Kupang and brought almost all of West Timor under their control by
5292-667: The Indian Ocean , also in some parts of the Sulu area of the southern Philippines and traces of it are to be found among people of Malay descent in Sri Lanka , South Africa , and other places. Indonesian is taught as a foreign language in schools, universities and institutions around the world, especially in Australia , the Netherlands , Japan , South Korea , Timor-Leste , Vietnam , Taiwan ,
5439-544: The Indian Ocean ; the Philippines national language, Filipino ; Formosan in Taiwan's aboriginal population; and the native Māori language of New Zealand are also members of this language family. Although each language of the family is mutually unintelligible, their similarities are rather striking. Many roots have come virtually unchanged from their common ancestor, Proto-Austronesian language . There are many cognates found in
5586-699: The Indonesian National Revolution (1945–1949). From 1949 to 1975 it was named Indonesian Timor . The total area of West Timor is 14,513.03 km (5,603.51 sq mi), including offshore islands. The highest peaks are Mount Mutis , 2,427 meters (7,963 ft) above sea level, and Mount Lakaan, 1,600 meters (5,249 ft) above sea level. The main languages of West Timor are Dawan , Marae and Tetun , as well as several other languages, such as Kemak , Bunak and Helong , are also used in East Timor . The other three languages which are only used in
5733-579: The Languages Other Than English programme. Indonesian has been taught in Australian schools and universities since the 1950s. In East Timor , which was occupied by Indonesia between 1975 and 1999, Indonesian is recognized by the constitution as one of the two working languages (the other being English ), alongside the official languages of Tetum and Portuguese . It is understood by the Malay people of Australia's Cocos Keeling Islands in
5880-649: The Malay peoples. There are different indications as to whether the Malays reached Timor in one or two waves. The proto-Malays from southern China and northern Indochina , probably reached Timor in 2500 BC. They spread throughout the archipelago under pressure from the expansion of the East Asian peoples. Probably around 500 AD, Deutero-Malays (who emerged from Iron Age Austronesian peoples who came equipped with more advanced farming techniques and new knowledge of metals) became
6027-639: The United States , and the United Kingdom . Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia , and its use is encouraged throughout the Indonesian archipelago. It is regulated in Chapter XV, 1945 Constitution of Indonesia about the flag, official language, coat of arms, and national anthem of Indonesia. Also, in Chapter III, Section 25 to 45, Government regulation No. 24/ 2009 mentions explicitly
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6174-608: The mutiny on the Bounty . In 1790, a rebellion in Sonba'i and Maubara was put down by the Dutch, but the colony continued to be troubled into the 19th century and the Dutch failed to bring the interior of the island under their control. In 1799, the Dutch East India Company went bankrupt and the Dutch government took over rule of West Timor, though without showing much interest in the economically uninteresting and distant Kupang. Trade
6321-530: The 15th century, did not reach Timor. The first Dominicans settled in 1556 and founded the Lifau (Lifao). The Dominican António Taveira promoted the missionisation of Timor. In the late 16th century, he focussed on the kingdoms on the north and south coasts. By 1640, a handful of priests had already founded 10 missions and 22 churches on Timor. However, a minority remained who were converted to Christianity. Ancestor worship and belief in spirits remained widespread. It
6468-557: The 1930s, they maintained a minimalist regime and allowed Malay to spread quickly throughout the archipelago. Dutch dominance at that time covered nearly all aspects, with official forums requiring the use of Dutch, although since the Second Youth Congress (1928) the use of Indonesian as the national language was agreed on as one of the tools in the independence struggle. As of it, Mohammad Hoesni Thamrin inveighed actions underestimating Indonesian. After some criticism and protests,
6615-447: The 2010 census showing only 19.94% of over-five-year-olds speak mainly Indonesian at home. Standard Indonesian is used in books and newspapers and on television/radio news broadcasts. The standard dialect, however, is rarely used in daily conversations, being confined mostly to formal settings. While this is a phenomenon common to most languages in the world (for example, spoken English does not always correspond to its written standards),
6762-505: The British succeeded in occupying Kupang in 1811. In 1812, British control was extended to all of Dutch West Timor. Only after the return of the House of Orange-Nassau to the Dutch throne did the Dutch officially regain their Timorese possessions on 7 October 1816. As early as 1815, Dutch troops had unsuccessfully tried to bring the rebellious Raja of Amanuban (Amanubang) back under their control. He
6909-615: The Catholic missionary Apostolic Vicariate of Dutch Timor stem the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kupang and its suffragan Diocese of Atambua . Oe-Cusse Ambeno belongs to the East Timorese archdiocese of Dili. The alternation of dry and rainy seasons shapes the agricultural rhythm and social life of the widely dispersed farming communities of the populations of West Timor. West Timor has an average unemployment rate of 2.39%. 30% of
7056-491: The Congress of Indonesian Language I 1938, Solo Several years prior to the congress, Swiss linguist, Renward Brandstetter wrote An Introduction to Indonesian Linguistics in 4 essays from 1910 to 1915. The essays were translated into English in 1916. By "Indonesia", he meant the name of the geographical region , and by "Indonesian languages" he meant Malayo-Polynesian languages west of New Guinea, because by that time there
7203-502: The Dominicans under Antonio de São Jacointo built a new fortress in 1647, but in 1653 the Dutch destroyed the Portuguese post and finally conquered it on 27 January 1656 with a strong force under General Arnold de Vlamigh van Outshoorn . However, the Dutch had to withdraw from the fortress immediately due to heavy losses after following the Topasse outside Kupang. For the time being, however,
7350-483: The Dutch encouraged their immigration to West Timor, so that they are still present here today. But the Dutch also had to contend with rebellions in the 1750s and 1780s. The worst was the renewed loss of Greater Sonba'i . The ruler, Kau Sonbai , openly broke with the Dutch from 1783, left Kupang and re-established Sonba'i as an independent inland kingdom, constantly pitting Dutch and Portuguese against each other. Little Sonbai remained under Dutch control. The reason for
7497-443: The Dutch governor and his garrison were not in Kupang, the colonial capital was even occupied by the rebels. The Dutch then abandoned their policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of the rulers they controlled. Then Governor-General , Jan Jacob Rochussen , sent troops and placed the interior of the island under military administration. The rulers were again forced to sign a treaty ( Korte Verklaring ) in which they recognised
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#17328550615627644-539: The Dutch sphere of influence remained limited to this region of Timor, with the exception of Maubara , which fell to the Dutch in 1667. Until the final conquest of the Portuguese fortress in Kupang Bay in 1688, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) concluded treaties with the five small rulers in this area, the "five loyal allies" ( Sonbai Kecil , Helong, Amabi in 1665, Amfo'an in 1683 and Taebenu in 1688). In
7791-419: The Dutch. The result was the outbreak of rebellions throughout West Timor from 1906 onwards. The reaction of the Dutch came quickly. In Niki-Niki, the local Liurai and his family were encircled by Dutch troops, causing them to commit suicide. The rebellions continued until 1916, when the rulers of West Timor had to accept the Dutch as their new masters. In the 1920s and 1930s, the first political organisations of
7938-511: The German expedition ship SMS Gazelle visited Kupang on its circumnavigation of the world. Extensive studies of the surrounding area were carried out. By the 20th century, West Timor had the status of resident within the Dutch East Indies to easen administration. The lack of power of the Dutch in West Timor can be seen in the fact that in 1904 they could only force an official audience with
8085-508: The Indonesian language is still in debate. High Malay was the official language used in the court of the Johor Sultanate and continued by the Dutch-administered territory of Riau-Lingga , while Low Malay was commonly used in marketplaces and ports of the archipelago. Some linguists have argued that it was the more common Low Malay that formed the base of the Indonesian language. When the Dutch East India Company (VOC) first arrived in
8232-407: The Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara with the capital Kupang on the western tip of Timor. The Indonesian western part of the island, with an area of 14,513 km, is divided into the city of Kupang (the chief port and largest town in West Timor, and the capital of Nusa Tenggara Timur province.) and the governmental regencies (kabupaten) of Belu (capital: Atambua ), Kupang (including
8379-701: The Netherlands and the views of the indigenous population as to whether they belonged to the West or the East has had consequences that extend to the present day. Various ethnic groups that were part of the Wehale Kingdom or its close allies were divided by the border. Today, Tetum, Bunak and Kemak live both in Indonesian West Timor and in independent East Timor. Traditionally, there are still thoughts among these peoples about
8526-456: The Netherlands) traders in the island's formerly very rich sandalwood resources. This sandalwood trade with Southeast Asia, which took place over centuries, did not leave Timorese cultures unscathed. All buyers of Timorese sandalwood have left their mark from a cultural point of view. The first European colonization of Timor was in the 16th century. In 1512 (other sources mention 1509 or 1511),
8673-500: The Portuguese and Topasses on Kupang ended in disaster in 1749, despite superior numbers, the rule of both in West Timor collapsed. At the Battle of Penfui (today Kupang's El Tari International Airport is located there), Capitão-Mor Gaspar da Costa and many other Topasse leaders were killed. A total of 40,000 warriors of the Topasses and their allies are said to have perished. As a result of
8820-502: The Portuguese navigator António de Abreu was the first European to discover the island of Timor in search of the Spice Islands . When the first Portuguese reached Timor, they found the population divided into many small kingdoms ( Indonesian : kerajaan) that were relatively independent of each other. The centre of the island was dominated by the Wehale (Wehali) kingdom with its allies among
8967-452: The Timorese kingdoms and their traditional claims were the basis for the colonial demarcation. From 1872 onwards, the Dutch left "internal affairs" to the native rulers, who were thus able to continue unhindered with slave trading and piracy and to carry out raids on other places. In 1885, however, one of the larger kingdoms of West Timor, Sonba'i, fell into anarchy after the death of the Raja. When
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#17328550615629114-516: The VOC. This was the beginning of Dutch rule in what is now Indonesian West Timor. Among them was a certain Jacinto Correa (Hiacijinto Corea), King of Wewiku-Wehale and Grand Prince of Belu, who also signed the dubious Treaty of Paravicini on behalf of 27 territories dependent on him in central Timor. Fortunately for the Portuguese, Wehale was no longer powerful enough to pull all the local rulers over to
9261-472: The West Austronesian branch) are spoken in West Timor, the others in East Timor . These languages include Uab Meto , Tetum , Ndaonese , Rotinese and Helong . Whilst languages of a non-Indonesian type (especially in the east), which are generally categorised as Papuan languages . Uab Meto, the language of the Atoin Meto, belongs to the West Austronesian languages, as do Tetum and Kemak , while Bunak
9408-532: The archipelago at the start of the 1600s, the Malay language was a significant trading and political language due to the influence of the Malaccan Sultanate and later the Portuguese . However, the language had never been dominant among the population of the Indonesian archipelago as it was limited to mercantile activity. The VOC adopted the Malay language as the administrative language of their trading outpost in
9555-415: The archipelago, such as Sojomerto inscription . Trade contacts carried on by various ethnic peoples at the time were the main vehicle for spreading the Old Malay language, which was the main communications medium among the traders. Ultimately, the Old Malay language became a lingua franca and was spoken widely by most people in the archipelago. Indonesian (in its standard form) has essentially
9702-464: The border with neighbouring East Timor. The Tetum, Bunak and Kemak ethnic groups, the majority of whom otherwise live in East Timor, mainly settle here. The various groups are linked by a wealth of economic and social ties. In addition, the languages Helong and Rotinese , which are related to the Atoin Meto language, are spoken in the west of the island. Helong was the original language in Kupang, but has been largely replaced by Bahasa Indonesia and
9849-427: The colonial language generally has continued to function as the language of politics, bureaucracy , education, technology , and other fields of importance for a significant time after independence. The Indonesian scholar Soenjono Dardjowidjojo [ id ] even goes so far as to say that when compared to the situation in other Asian countries such as India, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, "Indonesian
9996-498: The defeat, the rule of the Portuguese and Topasses in West Timor collapsed. In April 1751, Liurais of Servião rose up; according to one source, Gaspar only met his death here. In 1752, the Dutch attacked the Amarasi Kingdom and the Topasse Kingdom of Noimuti . This attack was led by the German Hans Albrecht von Plüskow , who was the Dutch commander of Kupang. He was to be killed by a Topasse assassination plot in Lifau in 1761. The Dutch also used this campaign to hunt slaves to serve
10143-402: The deputy commander was Francisco Serrão on the ship Sabaia , and a third vessel, a caravel, was under command of Simão Afonso Bisagudo, having as pilot Francisco Rodrigues, an able cartographer who wrote about this expedition. With a crew of 120 Portuguese and 60 slaves they were guided by Malay pilots, recruited to guide them through Java , the Lesser Sunda Islands and Ambon Island to
10290-420: The derogatory foreign names Dawan , Orang Gunung (mountain people) or Timorese can be found, which can lead to confusion with the inhabitants of independent East Timor. They live in the lower mountainous regions of the hinterland, where they prefer altitudes between 500 m and 1000 m for agricultural reasons, and populate the whole of West Timor, with the exception of the government districts of Belu and Malaka on
10437-431: The development of national culture, science, technology, and mass media. It also serves as a vehicle of communication among the provinces and different regional cultures in the country. According to Indonesian law, the Indonesian language was proclaimed as the unifying language during the Youth Pledge on 28 October 1928 and developed further to accommodate the dynamics of Indonesian civilization. As mentioned previously,
10584-511: The dominant population throughout the archipelago and also reached Timor. The Tetum in eastern West Timor form the largest ethnic group in East Timor and are descendants of the Malay immigrants, as are the Kemak people living on the border. Recent cultural contacts of West Timor's dominant population, the Atoin Meto, are due to the interest of various Asian (India and China) and European (Portugal and
10731-517: The duration of the drought is decisive for the cultivation of food crops; depending on the region, this can last up to nine months per year. For this reason, the most significant risk factor for agriculture is a lack of continuity in rainfall: Agriculture is a competition with the behaviour of the monsoon . 10°23′S 123°38′E / 10.383°S 123.633°E / -10.383; 123.633 Indonesian language Indonesian ( Bahasa Indonesia ; [baˈhasa indoˈnesija] )
10878-517: The early European traders and explorers brought to Southeast Asia. Indonesian also receives many English words as a result of globalization and modernization , especially since the 1990s, as far as the Internet's emergence and development until the present day. Some Indonesian words correspond to Malay loanwords in English, among them the common words orangutan , gong , bamboo , rattan , sarong , and
11025-511: The east. Following the bankruptcy of the VOC, the Batavian Republic took control of the colony in 1799, and it was only then that education in and promotion of Dutch began in the colony . Even then, Dutch administrators were remarkably reluctant to promote the use of Dutch compared to other colonial regimes. Dutch thus remained the language of a small elite: in 1940, only 2% of the total population could speak Dutch. Nevertheless, it did have
11172-540: The end of the month during the Battle of Timor . The Japanese did not officially surrender in West Timor until 11 September 1945 at a ceremony on the Australian HMAS Moresby . Upon Indonesian independence , West Timor became part of the new Republic of Indonesia. For barely a year, the Permesta movement , originating from Sulawesi , had Indonesian West Timor under its control. The movement, allegedly supported by
11319-606: The evolution of the language with Indonesians, although the 1972 Indonesian alphabet reform was seen mainly as a concession of Dutch-based Indonesian to the English-based spelling of Malaysian. In November 2023, the Indonesian language was recognised as one of the official languages of the UNESCO General Conference. Currently there are 10 official languages of the UNESCO General Conference, consisting of
11466-546: The familiar picture of Indonesia: the west monsoon in one half of the year, the east monsoon in the other. The west monsoon is a time of heavy, cloudburst rainfall in the months of October to May, the east monsoon a time of extreme dryness during the rest of the year, thus West Timor has large and wide-ranging savannas, and has fairly dry air temperatures, with minimal rainfal In the rainy season. When downpours happen, these rivers briefly become wild, raging torrents of water, which then cause major traffic and communication problems. In
11613-464: The frequency of Indonesian ⟨é⟩ and ⟨o⟩. In traditional Malay, high vowels (⟨i⟩, ⟨u⟩) could not appear in a final syllable if a mid-vowel (⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩) appeared in the previous syllable, and conversely, mid-vowels (⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩) could not appear in the final syllable if a high vowel (⟨i⟩, ⟨u⟩) appeared in the previous syllable. Traditional Malay does not allow the mid-central schwa vowel to occur in consonant open or closed word-final syllables. The schwa vowel
11760-794: The future president and vice-president, Sukarno and Hatta. Journalists, beginning a practice that has continued to the present, did not wait for the Komisi Bahasa to provide new words, but actively participated themselves in coining terms. Many of the Komisi Bahasa's terms never found public acceptance and after the Japanese period were replaced by the original Dutch forms, including jantera (Sanskrit for 'wheel'), which temporarily replaced mesin (machine), ketua negara (literally 'chairman of state'), which had replaced presiden (president) and kilang (meaning 'mill'), which had replaced pabrik (factory). In
11907-442: The impoverished rajas. The Timorese kingdoms were forced to send troops and 200 men annually to pan for gold in the mountains. Neither the military expeditions nor the gold prospecting brought the desired success. Instead, discontent among the Timorese grew. This was also because accidents during the search for gold could also be dangerous for the regents. A Dutchman reported in 1777, when five gold mines had collapsed, that relatives of
12054-838: The indigenous population emerged, such as the Timorsch Verbond in 1922, the Timor Evolutie in 1924, and the Pesekutan Timor in 1926. In 1933, Timorese students formed the Timorese Jongeren in Bandung, one of its members was the infamous bomb maker and national hero, Herman Johannes . This development ran counter to that in Portuguese East Timor, where the dictatorship suppressed political work. The Perserikatan Nasional Indonesia (PNI) also began to gain influence in West Timor and
12201-463: The island as part of the general settlement of the region. Anthropologists assume that the descendants of three waves of immigration live here, which also explains Timor's ethnic-cultural diversity. Australo - Papuans are thought to have reached Timor from the north and west around 40,000 to 20,000 BC, during the last Ice Age. The Atoin Meto , who dominate West Timor, are considered the descendants of this first wave of settlers, although their language
12348-1346: The language and established bahasa Indonesia as the national language of the new nation. The term bahasa Indonesia itself had been proposed by Mohammad Tabrani in 1926, and Tabrani had further proposed the term over calling the language Malay language during the First Youth Congress in 1926. Indonesian language (old VOS spelling): Jang dinamakan 'Bahasa Indonesia' jaitoe bahasa Melajoe jang soenggoehpoen pokoknja berasal dari 'Melajoe Riaoe' akan tetapi jang soedah ditambah, dioebah ataoe dikoerangi menoeroet keperloean zaman dan alam baharoe, hingga bahasa itoe laloe moedah dipakai oleh rakjat diseloeroeh Indonesia; pembaharoean bahasa Melajoe hingga menjadi bahasa Indonesia itoe haroes dilakoekan oleh kaoem ahli jang beralam baharoe, ialah alam kebangsaan Indonesia Indonesian (modern EYD spelling): Yang dinamakan 'Bahasa Indonesia' yaitu bahasa Melayu yang sungguhpun pokoknya berasal dari 'Melayu Riau' akan tetapi yang sudah ditambah, diubah atau dikurangi menurut keperluan zaman dan alam baru, hingga bahasa itu lalu mudah dipakai oleh rakyat di seluruh Indonesia; pembaharuan bahasa Melayu hingga menjadi bahasa Indonesia itu harus dilakukan oleh kaum ahli yang beralam baru, ialah alam kebangsaan Indonesia English : "What
12495-412: The language of politics , education , and nation-building in general, Indonesian became one of the few success stories of an indigenous language effectively overtaking that of a country's colonisers to become the de jure and de facto official language. Today, Indonesian continues to function as the language of national identity as the Congress of Indonesian Youth envisioned, and also serves as
12642-432: The language of education, literacy , modernization , and social mobility . Despite still being a second language to most Indonesians, it is unquestionably the language of the Indonesian nation as a whole, as it has had unrivalled success as a factor in nation-building and the strengthening of Indonesian identity. Indonesian is spoken as a mother tongue and national language. Over 200 million people regularly make use of
12789-603: The language was based on Riau Malay, though linguists note that this is not the local dialect of Riau, but the Malaccan dialect that was used in the Riau court . Since its conception in 1928 and its official recognition in the 1945 Constitution, the Indonesian language has been loaded with a nationalist political agenda to unify Indonesia (former Dutch East Indies ). This status has made it relatively open to accommodate influences from other Indonesian ethnic languages, most notably Javanese as
12936-481: The language with the most native speakers (Javanese) nor the language of the former European colonial power (Dutch) was to be adopted. Instead, a local language with far fewer native speakers than the most widely spoken local language was chosen (nevertheless, Malay was the second most widely spoken language in the colony after Javanese, and had many L2 speakers using it for trade, administration, and education). In 1945, when Indonesia declared its independence, Indonesian
13083-465: The language's wordstock. The Japanese agreed to the establishment of the Komisi Bahasa (Language Commission) in October 1942, formally headed by three Japanese but with a number of prominent Indonesian intellectuals playing the major part in its activities. Soewandi, later to be Minister of Education and Culture, was appointed secretary, Alisjahbana was appointed an 'expert secretary' and other members included
13230-417: The language, with Chinese influencing Indonesian during the 15th and 16th centuries due to the spice trade ; Sanskrit , Tamil , Prakrit and Hindi contributing during the flourishing of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms from the 2nd to the 14th century; followed by Arabic after the spread of Islam in the archipelago in the 13th century. Loanwords from Portuguese were mainly connected with articles that
13377-619: The languages' words for kinship, health, body parts and common animals. Numbers, especially, show remarkable similarities. There are more than 700 local languages in Indonesian islands, such as Javanese , Sundanese , etc. While Malay as the source of Indonesian is the mother tongue of ethnic Malay who lives along the east coast of Sumatra, in the Riau Archipelago, and on the south and west coast of Kalimantan (Borneo). There are several areas, such as Jakarta, Manado, Lesser Sunda islands, and Mollucas which has Malay-based trade languages. Thus,
13524-474: The largest language by number of speakers in Southeast Asia and one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Indonesian vocabulary has been influenced by various regional languages such as Javanese , Sundanese , Minangkabau , Balinese , Banjarese , and Buginese , as well as by foreign languages such as Arabic , Dutch , Portuguese , and English . Many borrowed words have been adapted to fit
13671-410: The less common words such as paddy , sago and kapok , all of which were inherited in Indonesian from Malay but borrowed from Malay in English. The phrase "to run amok" comes from the Malay verb amuk (to run out of control, to rage). Indonesian is neither a pidgin nor a creole since its characteristics do not meet any of the criteria for either. It is believed that the Indonesian language
13818-572: The likelihood of the Malay homeland being in western Borneo stretching to the Bruneian coast. A form known as Proto-Malay language was spoken in Borneo at least by 1000 BCE and was, it has been argued, the ancestral language of all subsequent Malayan languages . Its ancestor, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian , a descendant of the Proto-Austronesian language , began to break up by at least 2000 BCE, possibly as
13965-526: The local area of the Austronesian language group from the Fabron branches are Ndao, Rote and Sabu. The most populous cities and towns are Kupang City with 466,632 inhabitants according to the official estimates for mid 2023, Atambua Town with 85,838 inhabitants, Kefamenanu Town with 49,589 inhabitants, Soe Town with 41,640 inhabitants, and Betun Town with 41,631 inhabitants. The population of Timor came to
14112-530: The majority ethnic group, and Dutch as the previous coloniser. Compared to the indigenous dialects of Malay spoken in Sumatra and Malay peninsula or the normative Malaysian standard, the Indonesian language differs profoundly by a large number of Javanese loanwords incorporated into its already-rich vocabulary. As a result, Indonesian has more extensive sources of loanwords , compared to Malaysian Malay. The disparate evolution of Indonesian and Malaysian has led to
14259-460: The majority of the population and that would not divide the nation by favouring one ethnic group, namely the Javanese, over the others. In 1945, Indonesian was already in widespread use; in fact, it had been for roughly a thousand years. Over that long period, Malay, which would later become standardized as Indonesian, was the primary language of commerce and travel . It was also the language used for
14406-458: The mid-front vowel /e/ is sometimes represented with a diacritic as ⟨é⟩ to distinguish it from the mid-central vowel ⟨ê⟩ /ə/. Since 2015, the auxiliary graphemes ⟨é⟩ and ⟨è⟩ are used respectively for phonetic [ e ] and [ ɛ ] in Indonesian, while Standard Malay has rendered both of them as ⟨é⟩. The phonetic realization of the mid vowels / e / and / o / ranges from close-mid ( [e] / [o] ) to open-mid ( [ɛ] / [ɔ] ) allophones . Some analyses set up
14553-418: The middle of the 18th century, Timor was divided into two halves from a Portuguese perspective. The smaller western part consisted of the province of Servião [ de ] with 16 local kingdoms and was controlled by the Topasses. The eastern half was the province of Belu (Bellum) and consisted of 46 kingdoms. Three times the Topasses also tried to expel the Dutch from Timor. However, when an attack by
14700-414: The more classical School Malay and it was accused of publishing Dutch written with an Indonesian vocabulary. Alisjahbana would no doubt have taken the criticism as a demonstration of his success. To him the language of Pujangga Baru pointed the way to the future, to an elaborated, Westernised language able to express all the concepts of the modern world. As an example, among the many innovations they condemned
14847-409: The mountainous landscape. The highest point of West Timor is Mount Mutis , at 2,427 metres (7,963 ft). West Timor lies between Australia and East Timor which makes the island a strategic place for Indonesian trade. West Timor is no exception to the general climate of the Malay archipelago : the western part of the island of Timor has the characteristic monsoon climate. Thus, Timor also shows
14994-430: The national language, with varying degrees of proficiency. In a nation that is home to more than 700 native languages and a vast array of ethnic groups, it plays an important unifying and cross-archipelagic role for the country. Use of the national language is abundant in the media, government bodies, schools , universities , workplaces , among members of the upper-class or nobility and also in formal situations, despite
15141-521: The native population, mostly against the Amanuban Kingdom. In 1851, the Portuguese governor José Joaquim Lopes de Lima reached an agreement with the Dutch on the colonial boundaries in Timor, but without authorisation from Lisbon. In it, the western part, except for the exclave of Oe-Cusse Ambeno , was ceded to the Dutch. Needless to say, the governor fell from grace and was deposed when Lisbon learned of
15288-408: The need to develop Indonesian so that it could take its place as a fully adequate national language, able to replace Dutch as a means of entry into modern international culture. In 1933, he began the magazine Pujangga Baru (New Writer — Poedjangga Baroe in the original spelling) with co-editors Amir Hamzah and Armijn Pane. The language of Pujangga Baru came in for criticism from those associated with
15435-635: The needs of the plantations in the Moluccas. In 1752, the Bishop of Malacca branded the Dutch trade in slaves, which were also sold to Chinese and Arabs, as a crime that would lead to excommunication for Catholics. In 1755, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) sent John Andrew Paravicini to negotiate treaties with rulers in several of the Lesser Sunda Islands . In 1756, 48 Lesser Kings of Solor , Roti , Sawu , Sumba and much of West Timor made alliances with
15582-409: The offshore island of Semau ; capital: Kupang), South Central Timor (capital: Soe ) and North Central Timor (Timor Tengah Utara; capital: Kefamenanu ). On 14 December 2012, South Belu became the new administrative regency of Malaka (capital: Betun ). The area of Oecusse Ambeno on the north coast with 817 km belongs to the state of East Timor. The capital of the special administrative region
15729-597: The past, these isolated plateaus and mountain landscapes favoured the emergence of politically relatively autonomous territories. West Timor is part of the East Nusa Tenggara province. It was formerly split into the City of Kupang (a kabupaten or regency-level administrative area) and four regencies (kabupaten); from west to east these are: City of Kupang , Kupang , Timor Tengah Selatan (South Central Timor), Timor Tengah Utara (North Central Timor) and Belu . However,
15876-616: The phonetic and grammatical rules of Indonesian, enriching the language and reflecting Indonesia's diverse linguistic heritage. Most Indonesians, aside from speaking the national language, are fluent in at least one of the more than 700 indigenous local languages ; examples include Javanese and Sundanese , which are commonly used at home and within the local community. However, most formal education and nearly all national mass media , governance , administration , and judiciary and other forms of communication are conducted in Indonesian. Under Indonesian rule from 1976 to 1999, Indonesian
16023-479: The population center in Kupang City, which is also the capital of East Nusa Tenggara province. The population of West Timor is mostly farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and traders. However, urbanization has caused many people to move to cities to find work in the service and industrial sectors. In addition to ethnic factors, religion also plays an important role in the composition of society in West Timor. The majority of
16170-507: The population is Protestant Christian, but there are also significant Muslim and Catholic communities. West Timor's geographical location adjacent to Timor Leste, a former Portuguese colony, means it has a long history of political, economic and social ties to the region. In addition to the national language, Indonesian , native languages belonging to the Fabronic Stock of the Austronesian group of languages (subgroup East Indonesian of
16317-424: The population lived below the poverty line in 1998; as of 2012, it remained at 30%. The economy is mainly agricultural, using slash-and-burn methods to produce corn, rice, coffee, copra and fruit. Some timber harvesting is undertaken, producing eucalyptus, sandalwood, teak, bamboo and rosewood. An essential factor for the agriculture of these crops is the relationship between the duration and amount of rainfall, i.e.
16464-473: The prefix me- is often dropped, although an initial nasal consonant is often retained, as when mengangkat becomes ngangkat (the basic word is angkat ). The suffixes -kan and -i are often replaced by -in . For example, mencarikan becomes nyariin , menuruti becomes nurutin . The latter grammatical aspect is one often closely related to the Indonesian spoken in Jakarta and its surrounding areas. Malay historical linguists agree on
16611-417: The propagation of Islam in the 13th to 17th centuries, as well as the language of instruction used by Portuguese and Dutch missionaries attempting to convert the indigenous people to Christianity . The combination of these factors meant that the language was already known to some degree by most of the population, and it could be more easily adopted as the national language than perhaps any other. Moreover, it
16758-458: The protection of the Christianised rulers of the coastal region. The previous Christianisation supported the Portuguese in their quick and brutal victory, as their influence on the Timorese had already weakened the resistance. Fernandes first moved through the Sonba'i area and then quickly conquered the kingdom of Wehale, which was considered the religious and political centre of the island. After
16905-436: The proximity of spoken Indonesian (in terms of grammar and vocabulary) to its normative form is noticeably low. This is mostly due to Indonesians combining aspects of their own local languages (e.g., Javanese , Sundanese , and Balinese ) with Indonesian. This results in various vernacular varieties of Indonesian, the very types that a foreigner is most likely to hear upon arriving in any Indonesian city or town. This phenomenon
17052-673: The rebellions was probably the deficiencies in the administration of the VOC, which now became openly apparent with the expansion of the domain. After 1733, the VOC had an acute shortage of personnel due to malaria epidemics in Batavia . The situation was even worse in Kupang, where mortality among Europeans was particularly high due to malaria. Paravicini, of all people, who had praised the VOC so much in his treaty, described their personnel as bad, dishonest, greedy, cruel and disobedience would run rampant with him. They forced local rulers to buy goods at outrageous prices and Opperhoofd (settlers) preyed on
17199-407: The region. West Timor was a refugee shelter from 1998 to 2002, due to the prolonged East Timor conflict . On 6 September 2000, Pero Simundza from Croatia, Carlos Caceres-Collazio from Puerto Rico and Samson Aregahegn from Ethiopia – all UNHCR staff members – were killed in an attack by 5,000 members of a pro-Indonesian militia, armed with machetes, on the office of UNHCR in the town of Atambua, which
17346-445: The rights to use some betel palms in the Kupang kingdom. The Dutch, like the Portuguese in the eastern part of the island, had problems financing their colony. The captain of the Portuguese corvette Sa de Bandeira reported from his visit in 1869 that the Dutch could not return his 21-gun salute because they lacked guns and soldiers. The Portuguese captain saw this as an example of the Dutch way of "economic administration". In 1875,
17493-495: The ruler of Wehale in his capital Laran by military force. It was the first ever direct meeting of Dutch representatives with the "Emperor" (Keizer). In 1905, the Dutch wanted to finally bring the Timorese rulers of their colony under their control. The Liurai (or Raja ) were asked to swear an oath to the Netherlands and transfer their authority to the Dutch administrator. In return, they were to be granted some autonomy in their realms. The Liurai were to take over tax collection for
17640-543: The same material basis as the Malaysian standard of Malay and is therefore considered to be a variety of the pluricentric Malay language. However, it does differ from Malaysian Malay in several respects, with differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. These differences are due mainly to the Dutch and Javanese influences on Indonesian. Indonesian was also influenced by the Melayu pasar ( lit. ' market Malay ' ), which
17787-411: The sandalwood trade. Portugal initially established few garrisons and trading posts on Timor. Only when the threat from the Dutch increased did the Portuguese begin to expand their positions. Dutch traders first reached Timor in 1568. To extend their control to the interior of the island, the Portuguese began a large-scale invasion in 1642 under Francisco Fernandes . However, this action was justified by
17934-494: The side of the Dutch. Thus, the eastern former vassals of Wehale remained under the flag of Portugal, while Wehale itself fell under Dutch rule. On 11 August 1769, the Portuguese governor António José Teles de Meneses was forced to leave Lifau by the Topasses. The new capital of the Portuguese on Timor became Dili in the east of the island. The Topaz Francisco da Hornay offered Lifau to the Dutch, but after careful consideration they refused. However, Dutch power remained limited in
18081-820: The six United Nations languages, namely English , French , Arabic , Chinese , Russian , and Spanish , as well as four other languages of UNESCO member countries, namely Hindi , Italian , Portuguese , and Indonesian. As regulated by Indonesian state law UU No 24/2009, other than state official speeches and documents between or issued to Indonesian government, Indonesian language is required by law to be used in: However, other languages may be used in dual-language setting to accompany but not to replace Indonesian language in: agreements, information regarding goods / services, scientific papers, information through mass media, geographical names, public signs, road signs, public facilities, banners, and other information of public services in public area. While there are no sanctions of
18228-457: The sovereignty of the Netherlands and were forbidden contact with foreign powers. Only after three more negotiations (1893, 1904 and 1913) between the two colonial powers was the problem of the final borders resolved. On 17 August 1916, the treaty was signed in The Hague that defined the border between East and West Timor that still exists today. The wrangling over this border between Portugal and
18375-430: The status of the Indonesian language. The national language is Indonesian. Indonesian functions as a symbol of national identity and pride, and is a lingua franca among the diverse ethnic groups in Indonesia and the speakers of vernacular Malay dialects and Malay creoles. The Indonesian language serves as the national and official language, the language of education, communication, transaction and trade documentation,
18522-465: The treaty. But the agreements could not be undone, even though the treaty on boundaries was renegotiated in 1854 and not ratified until 1859 as the Treaty of Lisbon . The various small kingdoms of Timor were divided under Dutch and Portuguese authority. The treaty had some weaknesses, however. One enclave without access to the sea remained in the territory of the other side. In addition, the imprecise borders of
18669-649: The tribes of the Tetum, Bunak and Kemak ethnic groups. The Tetum formed the core of the kingdom. The capital Laran village on the territory of today's West Timor formed the spiritual centre of the entire island at that time. Following the Wehale model, a second kingdom arose in West Timor, that of the Sonba'i kingdom. In 1556, the Dominican Order founded the village of Lifau , six kilometres west of today's Pante Macassar , to secure
18816-528: The use of Indonesian was allowed since the Volksraad sessions held in July 1938. By the time they tried to counter the spread of Malay by teaching Dutch to the natives, it was too late, and in 1942, the Japanese conquered Indonesia. The Japanese mandated that all official business be conducted in Indonesian and quickly outlawed the use of the Dutch language. Three years later, the Indonesians themselves formally abolished
18963-525: The uses of other languages, in Indonesian court's point of view, any agreements made in Indonesia but not drafted in Indonesian language, is null and void. In any different interpretations in dual-language agreements setting, Indonesian language shall prevail. Indonesian has six vowel phonemes as shown in the table below. In standard Indonesian orthography, the Latin alphabet is used, and five vowels are distinguished: a, i, u, e, o . In materials for learners,
19110-533: The victims could take revenge on the rulers who had sent them to search for gold. There were also problems with corruption and also with the Mardijkers , the Dutch equivalent of the Topasse, but most of whom had not adopted the Christian faith. They were seen as an arrogant group that sought to expand their influence in the region. William Bligh reached Kupang with his faithful in 1789 after being marooned at sea during
19257-518: The victory, the immigration of the Topasses continued to increase. They were mestizos whose ancestors were inhabitants of the islands of Solor and Flores and Portuguese. The centre of the Topasses became Lifau, the main Portuguese base on Timor. Later, the Topasses also settled inland at the present-day villages of Kefamenanu and Niki-Niki . They were given land by the local rulers and soon formed their own local kingdoms, such as Noimuti , and became
19404-406: The west and was primarily in the hands of their Timorese allies. In 1681, the Dutch conquered the western island of Roti, from where slaves were subsequently brought to Timor. The Dutch also recruited soldiers for their army there and built schools after the local ruler converted to Christianity in 1729. The Rotinese people became a well-educated elite. To use them as a counterweight to the Timorese,
19551-422: The word bahasa only means language. For example, French language is translated as bahasa Prancis , and the same applies to other languages, such as bahasa Inggris (English), bahasa Jepang (Japanese), bahasa Arab (Arabic), bahasa Italia (Italian), and so on. Indonesians generally may not recognize the name Bahasa alone when it refers to their national language. Standard Indonesian
19698-590: Was a 16th-century Portuguese navigator and naval officer. He participated under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque in the conquest of Ormus in 1507 and Malacca in 1511 , where he got injured. Departing from Malacca in November 1511 with four ships, in an exploratory voyage to the 'Spice Islands' of Maluku , he led the first European expedition to reach Timor and the Banda Islands , in Indonesia , in 1512. Abreu
19845-404: Was a Christian ruler in West Timor who had been educated in Kupang and had also visited the Dutch colonial metropolis of Batavia. In 1816, a second military expedition failed disastrously due to Timorese guerrilla tactics. Sixty Dutch soldiers died, while the rebels suffered only six casualties. Until 1915, the Dutch still had to send military expeditions into the interior almost every year to pacify
19992-766: Was born about 1480 in Madeira, the son of nobleman João Fernandes de Andrade . After serving in Morocco, he fought in the campaigns of Afonso de Albuquerque in India and the Red Sea. On 25 July 1511, during the conquest of Malacca, António de Abreu led the Chinese junk that went up the Malacca River at high tide, allowing the Portuguese contingent to land and conquer the city in August. Severely wounded by
20139-403: Was designated as the official language of Timor Leste . It has the status of a working language under the country's constitution along with English . In November 2023, the Indonesian language was recognized as one of the official languages of the UNESCO General Conference. The term Indonesian is primarily associated with the national standard dialect ( bahasa baku ). However, in
20286-436: Was formally declared the national language, despite being the native language of only about 5% of the population. In contrast, Javanese and Sundanese were the mother tongues of 42–48% and 15% respectively. The combination of nationalistic , political , and practical concerns ultimately led to the successful adoption of Indonesian as a national language. In 1945, Javanese was easily the most prominent language in Indonesia. It
20433-600: Was introduced in closed syllables under the influence of Javanese and Jakarta Malay, but Dutch borrowings made it more acceptable. Although Alisjahbana argued against it, insisting on writing ⟨a⟩ instead of an ⟨ê⟩ in final syllables such as koda (vs kodə 'code') and nasionalisma (vs nasionalismə 'nationalism'), he was unsuccessful. This spelling convention was instead survived in Balinese orthography. Indonesian has four diphthong phonemes only in open syllables. They are: Some analyses assume that these diphthongs are actually
20580-443: Was not until the middle of the 19th century that a large-scale Catholic missionary programme began among the locals, although it was not until the early 20th century that it began to bear fruit with the conversion of 16 local princes. Protestant missionaries later followed to West Timor. Today, around 95% of the inhabitants of West Timor are Christians (54% Protestant, and 41% Catholic), 5% are Muslims. The number of practising Christians
20727-456: Was one of the means to achieve independence, but it is opened to receive vocabulary from other foreign languages aside from Malay that it has made contact with since the colonialism era, such as Dutch, English and Arabic among others, as the loan words keep increasing each year. In 2020, Indonesian had 71.9 million native speakers and 176.5 million second-language speakers, who speak it alongside their local mother tongue , giving
20874-521: Was primarily conducted by the Chinese. In 1797, the British attempted to occupy Kupang, fearing that France might establish itself here after the occupation of the Netherlands . However, the British were driven out by the Dutch commander with the help of local people and slaves. The subsequent collapse of the company meant that in 1799, the area returned to official Dutch rule. During the Napoleonic Wars ,
21021-400: Was still no notion of Indonesian language. Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana was a great promoter of the use and development of Indonesian and he was greatly exaggerating the decline of Dutch. Higher education was still in Dutch and many educated Indonesians were writing and speaking in Dutch in many situations (and were still doing so well after independence was achieved). He believed passionately in
21168-440: Was the language of the sultanate of Brunei and of future Malaysia , on which some Indonesian nationalists had claims . Over the first 53 years of Indonesian independence , the country's first two presidents, Sukarno and Suharto constantly nurtured the sense of national unity embodied by Indonesian, and the language remains an essential component of Indonesian identity. Through a language planning program that made Indonesian
21315-407: Was the lingua franca of the archipelago in colonial times, and thus indirectly by other spoken languages of the islands. Malaysian Malay claims to be closer to the classical Malay of earlier centuries, even though modern Malaysian has been heavily influenced, in lexicon as well as in syntax, by English. The question of whether High Malay (Court Malay) or Low Malay (Bazaar Malay) was the true parent of
21462-445: Was the native language of nearly half the population, the primary language of politics and economics , and the language of courtly , religious , and literary tradition. What it lacked, however, was the ability to unite the diverse Indonesian population as a whole. With thousands of islands and hundreds of different languages, the newly independent country of Indonesia had to find a national language that could realistically be spoken by
21609-649: Was use of the word bisa instead of dapat for 'can'. In Malay bisa meant only 'poison from an animal's bite' and the increasing use of Javanese bisa in the new meaning they regarded as one of the many threats to the language's purity. Unlike more traditional intellectuals, he did not look to Classical Malay and the past. For him, Indonesian was a new concept; a new beginning was needed and he looked to Western civilisation, with its dynamic society of individuals freed from traditional fetters, as his inspiration. The prohibition on use of Dutch led to an expansion of Indonesian language newspapers and pressure on them to increase
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