Talk:Suharto/Archives/2009/March

Nomenclature

Can someone familiar with Indonesian nomenclature explain what Suharto's "full" name is, and also if he was born with just one name and assumed other names later, a la Ataturk, or is there some other explanation? Someone did a really good exposition of Saddam Hussein's name (can't remember if it was as part of the main article), and I'd like to see that here. 209.149.235.254 00:37, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Javanese have only one name - in his case Suharto - any other titles are honorifics or alternative spelligs of Suharto (Soeharto etc)

Traditionally, the one name "rule" was to signify the parent's or the family's hope, or in the order of birth (eg: Triyono (tri meaning three or third); Dwikarsa (dwi meaning two or second).

Thanks!

To slightly correct/amend this: rural Javanese names tend to be singular, but they have two parts: an honorific (denoting one's place in the family/household), plus a base name. Suharto's name boils down to the honorific "Su" (meaning "good" or "nice") added to his base name "Harto." The same is true of "Sukarno" (Su+Karno) and "Susilo" (Su+Silo).

In addition to "Su" there are other honorifics that Indonesian notables tend to be addressed by. Frequently, you find Indonesians referring to Suharto as "Pak Harto." Pak is short for "Bapak" and is roughly equivalent to saying "Mister Karno" or "Father Karno" (this connotates the respect that Suharto demanded under the New Order regime). Sukarno, meanwhile, is often referred to as "Bung Karno," with Bung meaning "Big Brother" (this connotates how Sukarno was a "first among equals" among Indonesia's founding fathers).

Here are two links on the topic, one from Slate and one from CNN

we are taling about a man who killed a millionindonesians in the 1960s, as if he is the member of a soap opera, he is a vermin, and should be burned alibve.

A last note to explain alternative spellings: spellings such as "Soekarno" and "Soeharto" are owed to the fact that they were born before Indonesia's independence from the Dutch. Back then, Javanese script was still commonly used, and then transliterated by the Dutch into Roman script. After independence President Sukarno attempted to unify the sprawling new nation by creating the common language of Bahasa Indonesia, which used the common Malay language ("Bahasa Melayu")as a base, slightly modified to include Javanese and other dialects. In the codification of the language, simpler spellings were often chosen. Thus, "Soe" became "Su" ; the old "Djakarta" became "Jakarta," etc. --Daniel 21:50, May 23, 2005 (UTC)

Why does the beginning of the article say his full name is "Suharto Washington"? Where does the "Washington" come from? There's no explanation anywhere in the article, and it seems to be contradicted by the assertion that he had only one name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.180.234.220 (talk) 05:42, 19 March 2009 (UTC)