According to Wikipedia, the number of native speakers of Malay (Malaysian-Indonesian) is 37 million. As Malay is the national language of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei-Darussalam, it is spoken by a large number of people who on a day-to-day basis speak local languages. Some of the regional languages are huge. Javanese, for instance, has 85 million native speakers, and is the 12th most widely spoken language in the world. Madurese and Sundanese, the two other language spoken on the island of Java, add another 48 million people. Other regional languages (bahasa daerah) of Indonesia, aren’t small either, Minangkabau, Balinese, Musi, Banjarese, Acehnese, Batawi, Sasak, Toba, Mandailing, and Makassarese are some more languages having between 1 and 6 million speakers.

Virtually all speakers of regional languages do also speak Indonesian. In many cases, they speak it more frequently, and often also better than their native language as Indonesian is the preferred language of inter-ethnic communication. More than 90% of speakers of regional languages are literate. When they write, they will almost exclusively write in Indonesian, and the literature they read they is entirely in Indonesian. The last newspaper in Javanese language was published about 75 years ago. The regional languages have also been heavily influenced by Indonesian, mainly in lexicon, but often also in phonology, morphology, or syntax.

As Indonesian is the only language of instruction in Indonesia (besides a small number of so-called “international” schools where broken English is used as the medium of instruction), and as schooling is compulsory and enforced, all Indonesian have to learn Indoneisan at the latest by the age of seven. When we ask Indonesians who grew up speaking mainly their mother tongue in the first years of their lives before they picked up the national language in school whether they consider themselves “native speakers” of Indonesian, the language is almost always a clear “yes”.

But the scenario as described above, is becoming increasingly rare. Most Indonesians nowadays grow up in a bilingual setting, and are from infant age on exposed to at least some Indonesian before they attend primary school. Code-switching is becoming the norm, not only for adults, but also for children.

The term “native speaker” has, like the term “mother tongue” many different definitions. As Pokorn (2005:6)
has observed “The concept of “native speaker” is defined according to different criteria, and [...] there is no objective definition of the concept which would cover all potential native speakers and not even the majority of them.” According to any of the definitions presented by Pokorn, the assumption according to which there are only 37 million “native speakers” of Malay-Indonesian is untenable.

“A first language (also native language, mother tongue, arterial language, or L1) is the language(s) a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity. ” (Wikipedia)

Indonesian-Malay is spoken predominantly in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The population of Indonesia is 237 million; Malaysia’s population is 27.5 million, and that of Brunei is 0.4 million. Another 3 million native speakers live in the southernmost province of Thailand, and the number of native speakers in Singapore exceeds 500,000. These are 268 million people who are either native speakers, or who, with very few exceptions, have learned Indonesian-Malay at school and are –more or less– “native speakers”. It is either close to impossible (in Indonesia), or very hard (in Malaysia) to find an adult who is unable to speak Indonesian or Malay. The literacy rate of both countries is 92%. In Indonesia, all literates, automatically speak Indonesian, and the percentage of adult speakers of Indonesian is approximately 95-97%. In Malaysia, the number is lower as some older Chinese Malaysians are not very fluent in Malay. As a comparison, 96% of US Americans speak English. Those few people who do not speak Indonesian tend to live in the countryside of the island of Java. In other words, wherever you travel, you will most likely never encounter someone who does not speak Indonesian!

Even if we are very conservative and consider only two third of Malaysians and 85% of Indonesians as fluent speakers (either native, or near-native), there are still more than 215 million speakers of Malay-Indonesian. After Chinese (1300 million), English (508 million), Spanish (417 million), Arabic (280 million) and Russian (277 Million), Malay-Indonesian is the sixth most frequently spoken language in the world (the numbers above include second-language speakers).

Dear Professor Kozok,
I was wondering if you could give me your thoughts and feelings on the use of the word ‘bule’ to describe a white person or westerner. Would you consider the use of this word to be somewhat insulting? I have been doing a lot of reading on it and I’m still not exactly sure as to what my thoughts are about it. I can think of nobody that is more of an authority on such things as you.

Although the word bule can be used in a derogative manner, it is in the vast majority of cases used without any intent to cause offense. At a website called “pacar bule” we can read:

Kalau kamu seorang cewek mau cari teman, pacar atau suami bule, pertanyaannya adalah bule dari negara mana yang lebih baik?

If you’re a girl, and you’re looking for a white friend, boyfriend, or husband, the first question is, a white guy from what country is better?

The author continues that Europeans are more civilized because Americans are descendants of British criminals… Well, here he probably mixes up Australians with Americans, but our point is that in this context the word bule is used with absolutely no negative connotations.

Outside the beaten track where the sight of foreigners are rare, it happens quite often that someone may exclaim “Look, there’s a bule!”. My Indonesian friends use the term bule quite frequently even in my presence.

Here’s another example of the word bule being used from a certain Afrizal from Lampung. He writes at Kaskus, one of the most popular Indonesian social media sites:

Aku benci bule dari dulu…. mulai dari kulit mereka yang albino seperti warna kulit babi sampai gaya rambut mereka…. kedengeran rasis emang …

I’ve always hated white people… beginning from their albino skin that looks like the hide of a pig until the style of their hair… I know it may sound racist…

Well, yes, it is indeed not only racist, but blatantly stupid too. Clearly, the term bule is used here in a derogative manner. Bule-bashing is in vogue in certain circles, but even outside these circles you may hear exclamations such as “dasar bule!” which approximately means “What do you expect from a foreigner!”

And, last but not least, there is BUGIL. The word by itself means ‘naked’ but it can also be an acronym consisting of the first few letters of the two words bule and gila (mad). So what is a “crazy Westerner”? It is the name of a popular Indonesian TV show! This comedy reality show hires white foreigners and make them do local things. In one episode, for instance, they dressed two young Westener in shorts and faded t-shirts, with a shabby towel across their shoulders. They then had to act as polisi cepek (10 cents policemen) as they are mockingly called. These are young local lads who earn a few bucks by helping regulating the chaotic Jakarta traffic. The passing motorists then give them either a cigarette or 100 rupiah (the slang term for 100 is cepek). For Indonesians it is of course totally hilarious seeing a bunch of Westerners – representatives of the former superior ruling race – carrying out one of the lowest jobs imaginable.

You can check out one silly episode on YouTube.

The word bule is semantically very closely related to the the terms haole and pākehā from the Hawaiian and Maori language respectively. Just as bule, pākehā and haole can carry a lot of negative connotations depending on the context in which they are used, but they can also be used in a more or less neutral way.

Pākehā
Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are not of Māori blood lines. [...] Opinions of the term vary amongst those it describes. Some find it highly offensive, others are indifferent, some find it inaccurate and archaic, while some happily use the term and find the main alternatives such as New Zealand European inappropriate. (Source: Wikipedia)

Bule can, just as Haole and Pākehā, be used in a derogative way, totally depending on the context and the intentions of the author.

Other words in Indonesian denoting Caucasians are orang Barat (Westener), and Londo. The latter is, as bule, restricted to colloquial speech and also has no implicit negative connotation. Londo is most commonly used on the island of Java where it originally was coined. It is derived from Javanese Walanda, a loan word from Portuguese Holanda (Holland). Even though it originally denoted the Dutch, it is used as a generic term for all Westener.

So, what is the origin of the word Bule? Interestingly indonesians typically don’t know. The original meaning of the word has been completely forgotten.

Words with final -e have a strong tendency to be derived from final -ai, e.g. cape (occasionally even spelled capek), which is derived from capai. As final ai, such as in sungai, satai etc. is usually rendered e (sunge, sate), the bule derived from bulai. This word is listed in Wilkinson’s Malay dictionary under the entry bulai I. Albino. The same meaning is also given in the contemporary KBBI (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia) where we find two entries: 1) bulai – the definition given here is ‘albino’, and 2) bule (coll), 1. = bulai, 2. white skinned person (or animal), 3. white person (especially European or American), Westener.

Haole
Hawaiian [ˈhɔule]), in the Hawaiian language, is generally used to refer to an individual that fits one (or more) of the following: White person, American, Englishman, Caucasian; American, English; formerly, any foreigner; foreign, introduced, of foreign origin, as plants, pigs, chickens”. [...] Its use historically has ranged from descriptive to racist invective. (Source: Wikipedia)

Even though East Asians tend to be whiter than Europeans, they are never included in the category orang putih (white person), but they are occasionally included in the bule category as testified by the following examples:

“Tidak suka pedas”, tanyaku pada si bule Jepang.
“You don’t like spicy [food]?” I asked the Japanese.

Bule Korea juga gabung acara.
Koreans also took part in the activities.