Malaysians Accuse Indonesia Of Changing Borneo Island's Name On Google To Kalimantan
Is this the ultimate Indonesian claim? Not really.
By Sadho Ram — 15 Dec 2019, 12:55 PM
There is a wave of growing anger among Malaysians on Twitter.
Thousands of them have taken to the social media platform accusing Indonesia of changing Borneo Island's name on Google to Kalimantan.
Apparently, the name of Borneo Island on Google was changed to Kalimantan (Island in Asia) on the request of Indonesia, according to a tweet that was posted on Friday night, 13 December.
At the time of writing this SAYS story, the tweet —the first to highlight the issue — has gone viral. It had garnered over 8,000 retweets and had received thousands of replies.
The tweet also tagged the official Twitter handles of Sabah Tourism Board and Malaysia Truly Asia.
They have alleged that it's an attempt by Indonesia to erase Borneo, as it is known internationally, and replace it with their local name
"They are trying to erase Borneo and replace it with their local name," the Malaysian said under his main tweet's thread, asking people to imagine how cringe it is to say "Sabah, the best of Kalimantan".
"Since they are moving their capital city (Jakarta) to east Kalimantan, they want to shift the international tourists to Kalimantan as Malaysian Borneo (Sabah/Sarawak) is more popular under the name of Borneo. This is one big step to slowly erase Borneo's name," read a follow-up tweet in the thread.
The apparent change in name has also affected other things
Now when one Googles "Kalimantan destinations", Mount Kinabalu which is in the state capital of Sabah, Malaysia, and Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, another Malaysian state, now appears as "top things to do in Kalimantan".
An issue that has not gone down well with this Twitter user, who couldn't help but chuckle.
"The whole world recognised the island as Borneo island (with Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan inside of it). We are not part of Kalimantan, since when Kota Kinabalu is "Kalimantan destination"? Don't try to erase Borneo because Kalimantan is not popular. LMAO"
While Indonesian netizens tried to justify the change in name saying that there is nothing wrong with the Google map as the Indonesian natives have always called the whole of Borneo Island as Kalimantan
"It's funny to see this butthurt, Indonesian natives called the whole Borneo Island as Kalimantan," read a tweet by a netizen, who added that the name Kalimantan is in their native language.
"No need to say that we are claiming the Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei as part of Indonesia. Borneo Island still exists as the whole world has known it."
Another user feigned ignorance, saying, "Huh? Why do you think we have the power to force google to change shit? Plus, Kalimantan is just our local name for ALL Borneo, not just our territory."
Malaysian netizens, however, were having none of it...
"This really dumb. My homeland Sarawak is situated on the island of BORNEO. Not Kalimantan. Indonesia does not have the right to unilaterally change the name of the island it shares with TWO other countries (Malaysia and Brunei)," tweeted one, asking others to submit feedback to Google.
"Google "Borneo" (and Kalimantan shows up wtf), go all the way down and click on feedback. Tell Google that the island is actually called Borneo, not Kalimantan."
"Now the whole island is Kalimantan? Wew! IT'S BORNEO! Come On, man, Kalimantan island? Seriously? Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, Kalimantan as one Borneo but now you guys claimed it as one Kalimantan? Well, that sucks. Claim the haze first lah," another user tweeted.
Meanwhile, this Twitter user took the sarcastic tone to put across her point, saying "Ahhhh yes. Didn't y'all know? Everything in Nusantara belongs to Indo, everything except the haze."
Although, this apparent "change" in the name of Borneo to Kalimantan could simply be attributed to Google's search engine algorithm
In its most likelihood, this change on Google's search might have to do with the recent announcement by Indonesia about moving its capital city from Jakarta to Kalimantan.
It is possible that the announcement, given its historic nature, sparked a huge interest among everyone in the world who became more curious about Kalimantan than Borneo, thus impacting Google's algorithm.
Additionally, given the massive influx of discussion surrounding the names of Borneo and Kalimantan over the past few days and with Malaysians sending their feedback, it's possible that Google's algorithm will again be impacted. The result could lead to Google displaying Borneo as Borneo and not "Kalimantan".
