The Pokemon GO game fever that has recently occurred, has in fact been able to attract a lot of attention from various circles, including high-ranking officials in this country. Even recently the Mayor of Banda Aceh, Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal, instructed not to play the Pokemon GO game because it means I'm Jewish.
"And the pokemon have all been spread in electronic media, it turns out that it means that I am a Jew," said Illiza in a halal bi halal event with all officials and staff in the Banda Aceh City Government.
Illiza Sa'aduddi Djamal's statement was not only conveyed in a halal bi halal event, he also tweeted on his Twitter account about the dangers of playing Pokemon GO which means I am Jewish. Suddenly, the tweet immediately got a lot of responses from Indonesian netizens who were famous for being critical.
"@Illizaa Ma'am, I'm also a Muslim. Your statement is not true, and it's slander, Mom. Iqra, Mom. Read a lot. Mayor, you have to be wise," said the @risa_te account.
"@Illizaa Pokemon means it's Pocket Monster, isn't it. Japanese people say 'Poketo Monsuta', that's why there's no c in the 'poke'. Is this the mayor? @jsoekahar chirped.
Banda Aceh Mayor Illiza Sa'aduddi is not the first person to raise the strange bin magic theory about the meaning of the Pokemon. Previously, there were many broadcast messages and Facebook links floating around the issue that I was a Jew from Pokemon. It was explained that Pokemon comes from Syriac or Syriac which means I am Jewish and Pikachu is be Jewish then Charmander means God is weak.
What is Syriac, and does Pokemon really mean I'm Jewish?
Although it is also known as the Syrian language, Syriac is not the official language of the country (Syria's official language is Arabic). Syriac is spoken mostly by the minority Syrian Christians living in eastern Turkey, northern Iraq and northeastern Syria. The first news about the meaning of the word Pokemon from Syriac or Syriac emerged when the LA Times reported rumors of Arab countries' concerns about the invasion of Pokemon and other foreign cultures on April 24, 2001. "It has been proven that this toy is part of a Jewish plan to corrupt the minds of generations. our youth for offending blasphemous thoughts, making fun of Allah and our moral values ​​so it is very dangerous for our young generation," said Sheik Abdel Monem abu Zent, ​​a former member of the Jordanian parliament.
The statement immediately received a rebuttal from the Syriac Orthodox Christian Church through the Jordanian Amman newspaper. It says that there is no connection between Syriac and the names of the characters in the Pokemon game, let alone to the point that it means I'm Jewish or be Jewish.
As mentioned on the official website, Pokemon stands for Pocket Monster. Likewise with Pikachu which consists of two words, Pika and Chu, where Pika is the name for a small mouse and chu in Japanese means squeak. No wonder the most famous monster in Pokemon is in the form of a mouse. Or Charmander derived from Char (burning) and Salamander (amphibians such as lizards).
It can be seen that the creators of this Pokemon only provide simple and easy to remember character names without the need to tire of learning Syriac or Syriac.