The Indonesian language has no clear base nor sure origins—and I am thankful for that. Probably we do not need to know, nor will ever know, when a language is born. Maybe it is continually reborn. What is clear is that it was not October 28, 1928.

There is a quatrain that goes like this:

Dunia ini pang mantaganta

Ibarat Noraka pakkasiatta

Hidup tersiksa ri tomo butta

Terombang-ambing ri jene matta

This world where we d