THE challenge of his peer haunted him. For days, Abdul Chaer, 63, had been considering the words of his friend working with the National Institute for Cultural Research. He had been shown a Jakarta dialect dictionary written by German author Hans Kahler, which was published in 1966. "Should we wait until another foreigner compiles a Betawi dictionary?" challenged the friend.

On hearing this, Chaer—as the native Betawi man is