3 Misconceptions in Indonesia 糖心视频 Studying in Malaysia
November 11, 2017
EasyUni Staff
Language
When my relatives found out about me studying in Malaysia, most of them said: how is it? Okay, right? Suppose to be an easy adaptation because Malaysia鈥檚 language (which is Malay) is more or less the same with Indonesian language, right? Not really. Some words are really different. Here some words that might useful to know before fellows use it.
- Budak 鈥 in Malay, budak means child/kid, but in Indonesia, it means slave, so fellows, don鈥檛 be offended if some Malaysian called us 鈥渂udak-budak鈥 Indonesia because it means Indonesian children or kids.
- Comel - in Indonesia, 鈥渃omel鈥 means someone who cannot keep secret while in Malay 鈥渃omel鈥 means cute or pretty. So, fellow, don鈥檛 be offended when Malaysian call you com :D
- Seronok - in Indonesia, seronok is a bad word because it means something to do with pornography while for Malaysia, seronok means good, enjoyable.
- Kereta- kereta鈥 in Indonesia means train while in Malay, 鈥渒ereta鈥 means car.
- Bilik - 鈥渂ilik鈥 in Malay means room, while for Indonesia, 鈥渂ilik鈥 means a really small modest house.
- Pusing - 鈥減using鈥 in Indonesia means headache. In Malay, 鈥減using鈥 usually use when you want to turn around or just walking or driving around (pusing-pusing).
- Percuma - fellows, if in Indonesia, 鈥減ercuma鈥 means useless, for Malay, percuma is something that we like because it means free of charge etc
Politics and discrimination
As we know, fellows, the relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia has always colored with a kind of cold war even include cyber war where Indonesian and Malaysian keep taunting or mocking with each other not to mention the fight about culture. So, some people think those Indonesians who want to study in Malaysia or already become students in Malaysia do not have nationalism toward Indonesia. Moreover, many parents afraid to send their children to study in Malaysia because of rumor about Indonesia students will be discriminated because of the bad relationship between the two countries. Well, as an Indonesia who already studied in Malaysia, I have to disagree with this. Fellows, for us who already studied in Malaysia, being abroad and far from your family and country, our nationalism will be greater instead of lowering. It is because when we in the middle of international environment, we want to show that Indonesia also has something to be proud of. At least, this is what happened in my university where Indonesian students have an organization which wants to show the beauty of our culture. Even during Independence Day, Indonesian students will celebrate it in the university where we do a ceremony with Indonesia鈥檚 flag flapping proudly and it is continued with the traditional competition like is done in Indonesia, and we invite our foreign friends to participate. So, we can say it proudly that studying in Malaysia has nothing to do with lower nationalism. Next, fellows, do not be afraid about discrimination. I have been living and studying in Malaysia for 3 years and not even once, I suffer discrimination. I cannot say there will be no single person who discriminate Indonesians but fellows, you have to remember, all the people around you during study are educated people. Educated people judge based on what we achieve not on where we come from. Hence, work hard, prove that we are good and nobody will discriminate us.
Post power syndrome and quality
Many people especially the 鈥渂aby boomer鈥 (60s-70s) still think that Malaysia does not have a high quality education because during their time, many Malaysian studied to Indonesia. Most of them said 鈥淟ast time, they studied from us. So, why now, you want to study to them? It鈥檚 not right!!鈥 This is the post power syndrome which affects their perspective on quality. The past is the past. We have to realize now, Malaysia together with Singapore recently have been regarded as important hubs of regional and international knowledge and they have world-renowned local universities offering high quality education (Rogers, 2010). So, its education surely has good even high quality.
Source:
- Personal experience
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