Prior to taking up Bahasa Indonesia, Jeremiah was forwarned by his colleagues that he might have to unlearn some Bahasa Melayu as quite a few words in Bahasa Melayu had different meanings in Bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa Indonesia can also be gramatically more complex than Bahasa Melayu in some instances.
For example, in Bahasa Melayu, "polis" means "police" while "polisi" means "policy" (e.g. insurance policy). In Bahasa Indonesia, the converse is true. Another example: "kereta" means "train" in Bahasa Indonesia and "car" in Bahasa Melayu.
A common joke here is about "pusing", e.g. a Malaysian arrives in Indonesia and asks his driver to "pusing pusing saja" ("just drive around"). "Pusing", however, means headache in Indonesia and the confused driver might interpret the instructions as "drive around until my head aches".
Jeremiah at first laughed off his colleagues' warning. Alas, Singaporeans are exposed to more Bahasa Melayu than they realised, even if they have not formally learnt Bahasa Melayu. He is now frantically trying to limit the interference, Insha'llah.
Luckily for him, invocations of God do not go wrong. Al-humdulliah.
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