Mudik and Going Home, Different or the Same Meaning?

Going home and returning to one's hometown are two different terms according to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). The statement made by President Jokowi then went viral on various social media.

The origin of this statement comes from a video interview conducted by Najwa Shihab in her talkshow, Mata Najwa. Najwa Shihab visited the presidential palace to conduct a Q&A with President Jokowi regarding the spread of the coronavirus in relation to the rules for going home, considering that the initial spread of the coronavirus coincided with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr.

When Najwa Shihab asked about the government's stance on the prohibition of going home, President Jokowi firmly replied that going home this year in 2020 is prohibited. However, when Najwa Shihab presented the fact that 900,000 migrants had already gone home and they were scattered in various regions, this is where President Jokowi's viral statement originated.

“If that is not going home, it is called returning to one's hometown. Indeed, if there is no work in Jabodetabek, they go home because their wives and children are in the village,” explained President Jokowi during the interview on April 21, 2020. When asked what the difference is, President Jokowi explained that going home is done during the holiday while returning to one's hometown is done because someone works in Jakarta and their family is in the village.

Is President Jokowi's Statement Wrong?

Learning a language is not just about memorizing formulas for making sentences as elementary school children typically learn English for the first time. Language is not just about grammar or syntax so that the resulting sentences are in accordance with the rules or not. Learning a language is about learning the culture of the native area of that language.

There is actually no right or wrong in a language. Moreover, with the development of an era, language will also undergo development. Based on grammar, there is no right or wrong, but rather acceptable or unacceptable. However, aside from grammar, conveying a sentence must also consider the habits present in social, cultural, and religious contexts. For example, “the ball kicks Ali” and “I hit my father's head.” Grammatically, both sentences are acceptable. However, in terms of habit, they are not at all. This is because a ball is not alive so it cannot kick anything, and I should not hit my father's head because it is impolite.

Regarding President Jokowi's statement about the difference between the terms “going home” and “returning to one's hometown,” it certainly cannot be stated as something wrong. If in the Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI) the meanings of going home and returning to one's hometown have a related meaning, which is movement. However, culturally, there is indeed a difference.

The Difference Between Going Home and Returning to One's Hometown

If observed closely, even the KBBI states that the terms “going home” and “returning to one's hometown” are different. Not absolutely, but they cannot be stated as the same.

Going home is actually a derivative of the word udik. Referring to the KBBI, udik has three meanings, namely a river that is upstream; a village, hamlet, or hometown; and lack of manners, rustic, awkward behavior. The first two meanings are nouns, while the last is an adjective. The characteristics of the word udik are still absorbed to give meaning to the word going home, which means returning to the original village and sailing upstream. Returning to one's hometown only has one meaning, which is going back to the hometown or going home.

The simplification of going home from udik is the first difference between the two terms, going home and returning to one's hometown, when viewed from the lemma in the dictionary and morphology or the science of word formation. Culturally, both can also be referred to as twins but not identical.

If viewed from the habits of Indonesian society using the term going home, this word will often appear when approaching major religious holidays, especially Eid al-Fitr. Meanwhile, the term returning to one's hometown can be used at any time to express someone who has migrated outside their hometown returning to their homeland.

There Is No Exact Meaning in Language

Quoted from Kumparan, through the statement of Professor Kutabi, a linguist and cultural expert at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), in language, there are no two terms that have exactly the same meaning. This applies to going home and returning to one's hometown. Both are indeed synonyms, but their meanings are not exactly the same, still having differences.

According to Professor Kutabi, terms that have related meanings can change meaning because language is a dynamic entity. Over time, it will change even for using one word that has the same meaning. Because, in language, one cannot interpret words or sentences literally, but also must consider the overall context.

Author: Nisa Maulan Shofa