Indonesians vs. Jakarta Expats
Jul 14th, 2008, in Society, by Guest Writer
Hans takes a pictorial look at differences between Indonesians in Jakarta and their western guests.
East vs. West, Orang Indonesia vs. Orang Bule
Yang Liu is a Beijing-born artist residing in Germany. One of her works, Ost trifft West, depicts cultural differences between the Chinese and Germans through amusing infographics, which also hold true remarkably well for differences between the East and the West in general. Including our beloved country Indonesia? Yes, but not entirely either.
According to Geert Hofstede, an international authority on cultural differences, the Indonesian culture can be characterized by high levels of power inequality, low tolerance for uncertainty, and collectivism, while most Western cultures generally exhibit the opposite.
Inspired by Liu’s artwork, I’ve discovered the following, humorous differences between Indonesians and ‘foreigners’ (orang bule).
Skincare
Where to go in Jakarta?
Yes or no, atau tidak?
Daily newspaper
Favourite fruit
Can you think of any other differences between Indonesians and foreigners? Share them in the comments!
104 Comments on “Indonesians vs. Jakarta Expats”
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Lairedion says:
dewa said:
@ rima & Lairedion
Both of you may become part of the reunited ‘Vereenigde Nederlanden’? What’s your opinion?
I don’t care really. Right now I’m exploring business opportunities in Spain and have plans to relocate over there. Better climate and food and me and my wife really appreciate the Mediterranean culture of joie de vivre.
Great, yet another IM thread has evolved into an elitist, semi-intellectual exercise. Is this really the cultural change Patung is searching after?
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AchmadSudarsono says:
Laird,
Awesome ! Good for you. 🙂
Odinius,
Alot of things happened in the 14th century – like Jews gettings stakes up their arses for not converting to Catholicism.
I’m just saying it ain’t pretty.
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Aluang Anak Bayang says:
@ Lairedion
Great, yet another IM thread has evolved into an elitist, semi-intellectual exercise. Is this really the cultural change Patung is searching after?
If you think this is bad, wait till you scroll back to “Dating Indonesian Girls”. It had been reduced to a personal forum until I barged in.
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dewaratugedeanom says:
@ Lairedion
I don’t care really. Right now I’m exploring business opportunities in Spain and have plans to relocate over there.
Wish you success. Arriba y adelante.
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Thursday Afternoon Traffic ;
Indonesian – blood pressure ; 120
Bule (me for example) – blood pressure ; 200 – and rising.Friday Afternoon after traffic ;
Indonesian – blood alcohol level ; 0
Bule (me for example) – blood alcohol level 4.5 – and rising. -
perseus says:
Verbing nouns (if friend Aluang will pardon the expression) is one of the characteristics of modern English.
This is probably a main reason why English rules the world (culturally, scientifically, militarily and economically). The flexibility of conceptual expression is unmatched in more grammar-laden languages such as French, German and Italian, where to get a new verb up you have to fabricate large piles of tense forms. In English, you only have verb, verbs, verbed and verbing and all the rest is auxiliary verbs (i am verbing) and modals (I can verb) and phrasals (verb off).
Not all the verbings of nouns are successful but gifted is established as legitimate and to object to it futile. It has a nuance that the more generic give does not. I therefore advise friend Aluang to restrict his erudite advice to reminding us white guys that we are all worthless colonialist, imperialist, porn-consuming pedophile swine which is a subject on which he can speak with boundless authority.
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tomaculum says:
White (or Bule): can be (very) sarcastic and ironic
Indonesian: sharpen their knife immediately…..Perseus,
you hit the bull’s eye 🙂 -
Purba Negoro says:
Perseus?
Either a Greek God (which we all know means more of a flaming sodomite than a Greek sailor in a Turkish prison) or a rather dim Northern cunstellation?
Could you clear this up?
Tongue in cheek, of course old boy.
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Zecky says:
I’m looking at Liu’s artwork… it’s surprisingly accurate – to me, anyway.
My dad’s Indonesian – he used to be relatively Western when I was a child, but in the last decade he’s spent more and more time back home in Java, and more and more he’s behaving like Liu shows.
And as for power inequality – it’s true! It doesn’t matter about the USA – that’s not the point, here… I’ve known a range of Indonesians, from filthy rich to almost poor, and I’d never introduce such friends to one another because I’d know the first would certainly hate to be seen conversing with the hoi polloi.
First the Hindu castes, then the Dutch, then Soeharto – it’s no surprise that power inequality is live and kicking in Indo! -
Benjamin says:
Some Indonesian have 4 wife’s
Some Bule have the Indonesians 4 wives without him knowing -
Sisir says:
Aluang Anak Bayang, loe goblok banget sih, local indo and most asians kagak ada pedophile? Bapak pada forcing their daughters to have sex with them, bapak making daughters pregnant, stepfathers doing stepdaughters even udah kakek2 juga maksa cucu2nya. Kagak pernah baca koran yeh loe? Think again before you speak dude! Jangan munafik deh (hypocrite). Typical self righteous asian guy loe, malu2in org asia aje.
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BubblyBlue says:
I wonder is there anyone who realized that after governments give statements about the global crisis, there are many many more expats here in Jakarta… I was wondering that they might be fired from the company he worked for and then they’re looking for an opportunity to find a job here… and what sad is that some companies in Jakarta hired expats just for an “image” for the company so it’ll look “international”? What a sad thoughts! I know some expats are a very very hard worker, but I also know some expats who are teachers in some international school in Jakarta consuming ecstasies in parties… how I really want to tell those people that even they’re an expats, don’t think that they must be very good in everything, we still have to check their backgrounds etc.
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tulus says:
dear hans,,
could u tell me about cross-cultural study(Hofstede) in decision making of javanese people
what’s ur point of view??
toulouse_ranu@yahoo.com
student of psychologyPS : sorry if my english is bad enough
Comment on “Indonesians vs. Jakarta Expats”.
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Read the dictionary entry again, friend. Gift-as-verb dates back to the year 1550. Besides, if we didn’t want language to move forward, I’d be more likely to say:
þín Englisc gewrit sy ætealdod 🙂