Plaatsingsdatum: Sep 29, 2010 3:51:3 AM
PRESS RELEASE – PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE – PRESS RELEASE
1. ESPERANTO COURSES
In September-October, Heidi Goes, an Esperantist from Belgium, is back in Indonesia to teach the easy-to-learn, neutral language Esperanto. People who participated in the last year lessons have found the grammar of Esperanto much easier then the grammar of other languages; besides, for Indonesians the Esperanto pronunciation is also very easy. There are Esperanto speakers in almost all the countries of the world, so Esperanto is really an international language.
Classes are free and will be held (in this order) in Jakarta (26/9), Medan (27-28/9), Batam (29-30/9), Bogor (5-6/10), Bandung (7/10), Semarang (8-9/10), Jogjakarta (10/10) and Surabaya (12-13/10). Details of the courses (places, hours, etc.) appear in the calendar (http://sites.google.com/site/esperantoenindonezio/kalendaro).
Journalists are kindly asked to announce the courses, to which they are welcome, in order to interview the teacher and/or the students, and publish relevant materials afterwards. Information in Bahasa Indonesia about Esperanto, pictures of the last year courses, links to Facebookgroups for Indonesian Esperantists, and the blog of this trip can be found at: http://sites.google.com/site/esperantoenindonezio/.
For more information about Esperanto in general feel free to have a look at: www.id.wikipedia.org/Esperanto.
For details about a specific course and/or to make an appointment please contact the following contact persons:
- Jakarta: Ilia Sumilfia Sondang Dewi: 081/11773387.
- Bogor: Rijanto Husadha: 081/79170710.
- Surabaya: Aries Budiono: 085/645328729.
- Batam: Endang Sabrina 085/66203167.
- Bandung: Mancayo Hafizh: 081/390325959.
- Jogjakarta: Khoirul Amin: 085 293 506 967
- For Semarang and Medan, please contact directly Heidi Goes by email heidi.goes@gmail.com or telephone (0821 11 829276).
2. Searching for Indonesian Esperantists
Although Esperanto might sound as something new to most Indonesians, the Esperanto movement was very strong in this country between the world wars, and again from 1951 to approx. 1965.
This movement, who had a bright future in front of it, has suddenly died out, presumably because of political reasons.
Heidi Goes, who taught Esperanto in Indonesia last year, has also met some Indonesians who have learned the language in the 1950s. She has been doing historical research about the Esperanto movement in Indonesia for more then three years now, mostly through library research. The time has come to look for for those Indonesians who have learned Esperanto some time ago, or perhaps their children, who still remember about that hobby of their parents. Because it would be a loss for history's sake, if we don't give those people a voice. Therefore Heidi Goes is trying to find those people, to meet and interview them about the time they started to learn Esperanto, maybe about the first (and so far the only) national Esperanto conference in April 1960, in Jakarta, why they've learned the language, how was the club organized, etc. To help you find those people, please add in your article pictures of that time, with names of Esperantists (many of those names are Chinese, so there is a chance they might have changed along the time). You can select the ones that are most relevant for your town or region, or add all of them. You can find them at .http://www.facebook.com/editalbum.php?aid=231380&add=1&flash=1
Everybody who still remembers having done something related to Esperanto in the last decades is asked to contact Heidi Goes (see above), although this time she'll be able to meet people only in the eight cities mentioned above.
She is especially, but not only, interested in the following prominent Esperanto personalities:
Medan: Hasan Basri and Liong Soen Kiat: they taught Esperanto in Medan in the 1950s and published an Esperanto-Indonesian dictionary in 1960. Hasan Basri also published some exercises books and Liong Soen Kiat had 6 children who spoke Esperanto (see pictures).
Jakarta: Rankajo Chailan Sjamsoe Datoe Toemenggoeng Minangkabau wrote about women issues, but was also the founder and president of the Indonesian Esperanto Association. She helped publish several booklets to teach Esperanto. Her last address was in Jakarta, Pintu Besi 39, e.g.the dictionary of K.A. Moeslimin and the textbook book of Pramudja.
Dictionaries and textbooks were published in 1956 by Lim Ek Thoean, in 1958 by M. J. Soekirjo Dirdjosoebroto, and another one by Sie Ping Oen.
Also Liem Tjong Hie has played a very important role in the Indonesian Esperanto movement, by editing several Esperanto magazines, textbooks and readers, etc. He lived in Semarang.