Consul General Series - 印尼驻港总领事 Ricky Suhendar

Hi,everyone! My name is Ricky Suhendar, the Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia in HK.

大家好,我是印尼驻港总领事Ricky Suhendar。

1) Can the Consul General please introduce some festivals or events of Indonesia to us?

总领事能否向我们介绍印尼的一些节日或活动?

Indonesia is a very diverse country. We have more than 17000 islands, 500 ethnic groups and also 300 languages and dialects. Talking about the festivals and celebrations, since we are a big country, there are a lot of festivals. One of the most popular festivals in Indonesia is Nyepi, which means the Day of Silence, so the festival commemorates in Balinese New Year. The meaning of Nyepi itself, like I mentioned, is Silence, fasting and prayers. So during that day, most of the people in Bali don’t perform any work. Normally they switch off the lights at home and they try to reduce travelling.

印尼是一个非常多元化的国家。 我们有17000多个岛屿,500多个族群以及300多种语言和方言。 所以说到节日和庆典,因为我们是一个大国,所以有很多节日。而印尼最受欢迎的节日之一是静居日,Nyepi的意思是寂静日, 这个节日是在巴厘岛新年时期举行的。 正如我先前提到,Nyepi本身的意思是沉默,禁食和祈祷。 因此,在那天,巴厘岛的大多数人不做任何工作,而且通常他们在家会关灯,并试图减少出差。

2) So are there any other festivals or events you want to mention to us?

您还想向我们提及其他节日或活动吗?

Yes, there are a lot but there are two other events that I also want to share with the audience of RTHK. Since Indonesia is a big Muslim country, we have celebration which called Idul Fitri or we called in Bahasa as Lebaran. Lebaran in Indonesia is a very important festival, traditionally all Muslim people travel back to their hometown, well-known as Mudik or Pulang Kampung. So it is customary for children at that time to be given a small amount of money. Some families make special food, which is called Ketupat, or in English: rice cake with coconut milk, vegetables, chicken curry or beef curry. It’s very delicious. Other festivals are like in HK, we have a festival called Chap Go Meh or Chinese New Year in Indonesia. Since there is a significant number of Chinese people in Indonesia, so the Chinese New Year is widely celebrated. Similar to HK, normally we have Chinese New Year in Indonesia in March or in Full Moon Day. Like in HK, we have fun fair celebrations in many cities with lanterns, lion dancers. So I think it is very similar to HK and that’s the three major events.

印尼有很多节日活动,但我想还有另外两个活动要与香港电台的观众分享。由于印尼是一个穆斯林大国,所以我们有一个庆祝活动,称为开斋节,或者在印尼语中称为Lebaran。印尼的开斋节是一个非常重要的节日,传统上所有穆斯林都是回教徒,他们都会大规模地回到家乡,我们又称此行为叫Mudik或Pulang Kampung。而且在当日孩子们都会被赠予少量的金钱。家庭亦会制作特色食物,例如有称为Ketupat的椰汁米糕,亦有蔬菜、鸡肉咖哩或牛肉咖哩,都是非常好吃的。其他节日也像在香港一样,我们在印尼有十五冥,即是等于中国的农历新年。由于印尼有大量的中国人口,因此人们都会庆祝农历新年。与香港类似,通常我们会在三月或满月日在印尼过年。我认为这与香港十分相似,我们在许多城市都有彩灯,舞狮等庆祝活动。因此,我认为它与香港非常类近。所以这就是三大重要节日。

3) So I have been told that the Consul General has been here in HK for four months. So how’s your impression here? Is it your first time you’ve been here or you’ve been here for a few times before this mission?

我被告知总领事已经在香港逗留了四个月。 那么,您在这里的印象如何?您是第一次来这里,还是在执行此任务之前已经到过几次了?

I’ve been here for 4 months ago, this is my third assignment for my diplomatic mission. So for me and for my family, HK is a very unique city which I can call HK as “East meets West” because they have a specific characteristic. Here, we can find very traditional and nice local food, and local art also. While at the same time, without long travelling time, we can find very modern taste from around the food. Let’s say we can find French cuisine and Indonesian restaurants here. I know that we have 5 Indonesian restaurants in HK. Me and my family also like to try the new taste of food from many countries. The Chinese one I like is dim sum. My favorite dim sum is Siu Mai, Har Gow. Besides food, we can find a lot of amazing traditional art. So for your information, we have an event in collaboration with Sin Sin Fine Art that features the exhibition of our Indonesian paintings. We try to promote our paintings to HK people since I understand that there are many local and famous artists in HK, so I think it is also a good opportunity for both sides to know more and have collaborations. That’s my first impression in HK.

我来这里已有4个月了,这是我第三次执行外交任务。所以对于我和我的家人来说,香港是一个非常独特的城市,因为我可以说香港是“东方遇着西方”,因为它们具有特定的特征。在这里,我们可以找到非常传统和美味的当地美食以及当地艺术品。与此同时,无需走到山长水远,我们就可以找到现代美食,比方说,我们可以在这里找到法国美食和印尼餐厅。据我所知,香港有5家印尼餐厅。我和我的家人也喜欢尝试来自许多国家的新口味食物。我喜欢的中国菜是点心,我最喜欢的点心是烧卖和虾饺。除了食物,我们还能找到很多令人惊叹的传统艺术。作为参考,我们将与Sin Sin Fine Art合作举办活动,并将举办印尼绘画展。由于我知道香港有很多本地和著名的艺术家,因此我们尝试将印尼绘画宣扬给香港人,因此我认为这也是双方了解和合作的良机。那是我在香港的第一印象。

4) Please tell us more about the national flower of Indonesia.

请告诉我们更多有关印尼的国花。

Actually we have three types of flowers, regarded as national flowers. First, it is the Jasmine flower. We called it Flower of Nation with a good smell. We choose Jasmine because it has become an important part of Indonesia's daily life. You can find tea and the tea here is made of Jasmine flower so that you can smell and taste. Also sometimes people use this flower when they go to special events, like putting on hair for accessories. The second flower is Moon Orchid, we call it the Anggrek Bulan. This flower is very famous and quite expensive. I saw many Moon Octrid in HK also. The third flower which is regarded as the biggest flower, is called Rafflesia Arnoldi. It is very rare and does not exist in other parts of the world but only in Indonesia. The size of the flower is very big and considered as the biggest flower in the world.

我们有三种花都被归类为国花。第一种是茉莉花,我们称它为“民族之花”,并具有良好的香气。 之所以被归纳为国花是因为茉莉花已经成为印尼人日常生活重要的一部分,例如你可以品尝到由茉莉花冲泡的茶,同样,有时人们在参加特殊活动时会使用这种花,例如戴上发饰。有时候人们在参加活动时会都使用这种花作装饰,例如放在头顶上。第二种花就是蝴蝶兰花,印尼语称之为Anggrek Bulan。此种花是非常有名及昂贵的,我在香港亦时常看见蝴蝶兰花。而第三种花被称为世界上最大的花,名叫大王花,是非常罕有,并且只能够在印尼发现,并不存在于世界其他地方,大王花的花瓣非常巨大,所以又被称为世界上最大的花。

The three kinds of flowers are the national flowers or only the represented flowers?

这三种花同时都是国花,还是只是象征性的花朵?

It became the national flower and there are three kinds.

这三种花都是一同被选为印尼的国花。

5) Can the Consul General please teach us some trendy slang of Indonesia?

总领事能否教我们一些印尼的潮语?

Before I share some Indonesian slangs, Bahasa Indonesia is very beautiful. So you can imagine if I mention Bahasa which is presenting 17000 islands and people with lots of traditional languages, we have to unite together, so that’s why Bahasa Indonesia represents the nation of the vibrant culture of Indonesian. So this one I wonder if the words you hear daily, it’s quite different because we also serve traditional languages which became the national languages, so I can share with you some slangs. First is “Lebay”, meaning exaggerated or over the top. So I give you an example, let’s say your ice cream melted under the heat, and you began to cry, then some people might call your reaction “Lebay”, so you did something which is very exaggerated. Because the ice cream melted, you don’t need to cry but you cried, the people said you are “Lebay”. And the other slang is “Baper”, which means it’s too emotional. It’s also called Bawa Perasaan, the abbreviation of Baper, so the meaning is taking everything too personally or emotional. So when someone is attentive to you, don’t get too “Baper”, or don't take it as a sign of attraction. Maybe he or she just wants to try to be close with you in a friendly way. And the last is “Kepo” which means noisy, so when your friend asks you too much, like asking personal questions and very annoying, we call it “Kepo” , so the abbreviation for Kepo is knowing every particular object.

在我分享印尼潮语之前,印尼语是一种非常漂亮的语言,所以可以想像一下,如果我说印尼语代表17000个岛屿和人民,还有许多传统语言,我们必须团结起来,所以这就是印尼语,同时代表印尼人民充满活力的文化之国。所以,我好奇你日常生活中会否听到这个词语,因为我们传统语言亦被归纳为国家法定语言,因此我可以与您分享一些潮语,第一个是“ Lebay”,意思是夸张的。因此,我举一个例子,假设您的雪糕在高温下融化,然后您开始哭泣,然后有人将您的反应称为“ Lebay”,因为您做的事情非常夸张,冰淇淋融化了,您无需哭泣,但您哭了,人们形容您是“ Lebay”。另一个语是“ Baper”,意思是指太过情感化了,全名是Bawa Perasaan,即是Baper的缩写,是使一切变得太个人化或情感化。因此,当某人对您专心致志时,请不要太“Baper”,也不要将其视为故意吸引人的行为。也许他或她只是想尝试以友好的方式与您保持亲密关系。最后一个是“ Kepo”-嘈杂,所以当您的朋友问你太多,问了很多个人问题并且表现得很烦人时,我们称其为“ Kepo”,因此Kepo的意思又可以是想知道对象的每一个细节。

So these kinds of slangs are popular for years or only nowadays only?

所以这些潮语是很久以前已有,还是最近才流行的 ?

Actually it’s popular among young people, so normally we cannot use it with the older people, it’s very impolite but it’s ok to use with close friends or classmates.

实际上,它在年轻人中很流行,但就不能对老人家说这些说话,因为这是非常不礼貌的,但就可以与亲密的朋友或同学一起使用。

夏妙然博士、印尼驻港总领事 Ricky Suhendar