Piece of Mind: Cultural Differences Erupt in Yogyakarta

Jakarta Globe, Megan Ryan | November 22, 2010

As a foreign researcher living in the bustling city of Yogyakarta, it’s easy to forget that my reality is very different than the average Indonesian’s. Coverage in the two national English newspapers and the conversations I have with my bilingual Indonesian friends are less than representative of local happenings. I miss out on an entirely different world, impenetrable to foreigners without full fluency of the native language. This truth became glaringly obvious to me in the midst of the Merapi eruptions.

About two weeks ago I awoke earlier than usual. I walked into the kitchen of my kost to find my neighbors sitting at the table. Not surprised that I woke due to the abnormally chilly morning, they blamed the unpredictable weather on the volcano’s increasing activity.

This was news to me. Ironically, later that night Merapi erupted. How did I live in Yogyakarta without a clue that Merapi’s danger level was rising?

The answer is that I was not connected to the local media. I also must have missed the daily chitchat about Merapi at the food stalls and warungs I visit.

Despite a few worried e-mails from family members in the United States and the graphic images of Merapi’s victims on the television, I managed to stay calm.

In recorded history, the hot lava and other deleterious materials spewed during Merapi’s eruptions have never reached as far as Yogyakarta. I had nothing to worry about, I told myself. Or did I?

My Indonesian friend Vicki laughed when I asked her if she was going to leave town. “I’m a Yogyanese,” she replied. “This doesn’t worry me.”

But why then did a German girl I know flee to Bali a few days after the eruption?

And why did my American friend call me hysterically, scared of the long-term effects of the ash that rained down on the city in the middle of the night? And why didn’t I feel as terrified?

Perhaps it was just a difference in personalities. But I beg to differ. It turns out that the people who reacted with fear and those who did not were receiving different information.

On average, the foreigners I knew in Yogyakarta reacted differently to the eruption than the locals.

After talking with a few friends about their respective governments’ recommendations, I realized that most foreign states suggested their citizens evacuate the area.

The German Embassy urged its citizens to leave Yogyakarta because of the long-term dangers of siliceous crystals in the ash.

The train station was a chaotic mess of tourists waiting nervously for their turn at the ticket booth, hoping for a ticket to anywhere far away from the billowing volcano.

Yet the Yogyakarta city government mentioned nothing about evacuating the town.

It wasn’t until I received news from my embassy requesting all Americans to evacuate Yogyakarta and Central Java that I started to worry.

Would it be wise to ignore the advice of my government?

Paradoxically, the most fearless people lived closest to the volcano. Why was this? Clearly they were aware of the gravity of the situation.

Most of Merapi’s closest neighbors returned home for one reason: personal property. Perhaps the short-term risk of getting burned is worth saving the cattle that families rely on for income.

So information is not the only factor shaping people’s reactions to Merapi. Economic factors also play a large role.

That is why Agriculture Minister Suswono’s pledge to compensate all farmers for the animals that died during the eruptions was an important and effective way to ensure citizen safety.

Suswono told farmers gathered at a livestock evacuation center that he hoped such a promise would discourage them from risking their lives for their herds.

One thing that is clear is that in the face of disaster governments can shape citizen behavior. This calls for strategy.

Did the American government exhibit strategy when urging its citizens to evacuate all of Central Java?

Hardly.

Was the Ministry of Agriculture’s decision to compensate people for their animals a way to ensure public safety?

Absolutely.

Jakarta Culture Shock Therapy for Expats

Jakarta Globe, September 23, 2010      

Setting foot in Indonesia’s capital for the first time can be overwhelming. The crowds, the traffic and the pollution in Jakarta are not what usually makes up a pleasant city. But while tourists have the chance to escape anytime they want, it is a different story for expats who have relocated to Jakarta for work. They have to make do with what the city has to dish out, whether they like it or not.

The newly-revised ‘Culture Shock! Jakarta’ lets expats
know what to expect when moving to Jakarta, detailing
traffic, floods and understanding the local customs and
people. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)  

“Culture Shock! Jakarta: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette,” might help with the adjustment.

Part of the Culture Shock! series and recently published in a revised edition, this is not your usual travel guide.

Instead, it provides insider tips and tricks on how to interact with Indonesians, and their customs and traditions, in order to get a better understanding of the culture.

The second part of the book is dedicated to practical aspects of moving to Jakarta, including where to find accommodation, schools, health services and good food.

Co-authored by Derek Bacon and Terry Collins, who have known this city for many years, the guide presents an informative look into expat life in the Big Durian.

“Derek is a former colleague here, but returned to the UK in 1997. We’ve remained friends since then,” said Collins, who has been living in Jakarta for over 20 years and authors the blog Jakartass.

“It was [due to the] combination of Derek’s ‘exile’ from Indonesia and my writing that I was commissioned to rewrite his book, which was to be included in Marshall Cavendish’s series of Culture Shock books,” said Collins, referring to Derek Bacon’s book, “Jakarta at Your Door,” which was published in 1999.

“My original revision had Derek’s work at its core,” he said.

“Apart from the rapid changes to a ‘modern’ lifestyle — ownership of private transport, shopping malls, handphones, online social networks and the like — in essence, Jakarta is little changed from then.

However, I considerably expanded the book and tried to personalize the experience of living in Jakarta based not only on my observations, but also on those of fellow foreign residents.”

However, even though the first edition of “Culture Shock! Jakarta” only hit the book shelves in 2007, the publishers felt that it was already time for a revised version, in light of the political and social changes that have happened in the country in the last three years.

“I double-checked all the phone numbers, addresses, both physical and online, and regulations, particularly visa and business,” Collins said.

“Updates of the political scene and music were also necessary as these are subject to ‘fashion.’

For example, Riza Arshad contributed his thoughts on the current jazz scene, a particular interest of mine.”

Other new additions to the 2007 edition are 16 pages of photographs.

“But this is not a coffee-table book, nor is it a reference book, with details of restaurants, hotels and the like, although I hope the lists of embassies and cultural centers, the mini-section on Indonesia and other ‘facts’ prove of value,” Collins said.

“It is a guide to living here, so, above all, I hope readers have an understanding with what is going on around them and aren’t tempted to flee at the first opportunity.”

While Collins calls Jakarta home, Bacon, who still visits from time to time, now feels overwhelmed by the capital.

“I haven’t lived in Jakarta for a while now, but when I do visit, I always think it seems worse than the time previously,” Bacon said.

“Last time I visited [in July], I left wondering how I ever managed to live there at all.

"But I also remember feeling like that when I first arrived [in 1990], and I have to remind myself that this city really does take some getting used to.

"When I visit areas of greater Jakarta, like BSD City, I’m reminded how much the place continues to expand. It makes me wonder where it will end.

"I imagine all the cities on Java swelling and swelling until they all merge into one single never-ending city.”

“Culture Shock! Jakarta” definitely should help newcomers settle in.

The book is a pleasant and a humorous read, studded with personal experiences that one would never find in a regular travel guide.

Illustrations by Trigg, a British illustrator based in Hong Kong, add more color, as do the black and white and color photographs.

When asked if the recent changes in Jakarta ever make him think of leaving, Collins said that the Big Durian is his home.

“I’ve been supporting an Indonesian family for over 20 years, still live in the same rented house and I’m not bored,” Collins said.

“Sure, like everyone else, the chaos that is Jakarta gets to me as much as anyone — everyone — else, but Jakartass is my outlet for both the frustrations and my thoughts on how to make life better for Jakartans.”

The Thinker: Women on the Edge

Jakarta Globe, Dewi Tjakrawinata | August 30, 2010

When the plenary session of the House of Representatives failed to ratify the immigration bill on July 30, the women’s movement closely following the progress of this legislation was given new hope. It seems that both the government and the House were aware that the people’s aspirations, in particular those of women in mixed marriages, had not yet been accommodated.

Susan (not her real name), a foreigner, had to swallow a bitter pill when her beloved Indonesian husband had a stroke and was no longer able to work. The couple had met at a university in Yogyakarta, fell in love and got married.

They lived in the United States for two years during her husband’s studies, and then returned to Indonesia and raised a family.

Susan gave up a good career in the United States to follow her husband to Indonesia, where she had to be willing to become a housewife.

Indonesia’s immigration and labor system denies women like Susan a right to earn an income for their families, instead allowing them to live here but only “work” in social institutions as an unpaid volunteer.

Following her husband’s stroke, Susan eventually returned to her home country so that she could support her family and send her two teenage children to school.

The children, who for their whole lives had only known Indonesia as their home, had to adapt to a new way of life and Susan had to leave her husband.

Mireille (also not her real name), a French woman, has a no less tragic story. She met her husband, a singer in a club, married him and had two daughters.

Like Susan, Mireille was denied the opportunity to work, so she instead “illegally” gave lessons in French and cooking. Her husband was often unemployed and depressed, a condition that eventually made him abusive.

What started as verbal abuse later became physical — not only toward Mireille, but also the children.

Every time Mireille said she would leave him, her husband threatened to withdraw his sponsorship and swore he would not let her take the children.

Fear of losing her daughters and that something even worse would happen to them if she left led her to stay.

Rusmiah, who comes from Brebes, Central Java, tried her luck by going to work in Malaysia and working as a maid. She was fortunate to have a good boss who paid her well and even gave her an opportunity to learn to cook.

She met a plantation laborer from Cambodia in an English-language class, whom she eventually married.

They were a hard-working young couple that saved as much as they could to build a better future.

When Rusmiah became pregnant, she decided to return to Indonesia, with her husband planning to buy land to farm while Rusmiah would open a food stall in her village.

But because her husband was a foreigner, neither he nor Rusmiah were allowed to buy a rice field in their name.

He only had a tourist visa and had to leave Indonesia every 30 days.

The burden gradually ate up the savings of the young couple with a new baby and undermined Rusmiah’s health, leaving her unable to work.

The problems faced by these women could be solved if our country recognized the common concept of permanent residency, whereby a person is allowed to reside indefinitely within a country of which he or she is not a citizen.

The latest draft of the immigration bill would fail to solve the problems of these three women above.

The reason given by those discussing the bill as to why this concept of permanent residency cannot be accepted is because the immigration bill only deals with the entry and exit of people (Indonesians and foreigners) to and from the country.

In other countries, permanent residency is granted to immigrants who fulfill certain conditions. Can Indonesia not learn from other countries?

The women mentioned here are part of Indonesian families. The family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state, as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The UDHR holds that everyone has the right to work and to the free choice of employment. Is the declaration just meaningless rhetoric for us in Indonesia? 

Dewi Tjakrawinata is a member of the International Rainbow Alliance (Aliansi Pelangi Antar Bangsa), a Jakarta-based organization working to ensure legal protection for Indonesian and foreign nationals and their families.

Can’t Buy Love? Indonesia Thinks Foreign Men Should

Jakarta Globe, June 01, 2010

Foreign men wishing to wed Indonesian Muslim women are required to put a guarantee of 500 million rupiah (55,000 dollars) into a bank. (Photo Reuters)

Alarm bells not wedding bells are ringing over Indonesian proposals to demand a 55,000-dollar “security guarantee” from foreign men who marry Indonesian women.

Enraged brides-to-be are threatening to flee the country and marry their boyfriends abroad if the government approves the plan, which is part of a wider marriage law reform being pushed by Muslim conservatives and befuddled foreign grooms are asking why they are being targeted when stories of foreign men being exploited by gold-digging women are rife in the Southeast Asian country.

The proposal requires foreign men wishing to wed Muslim women -- it will not apply to Christians or Buddhists or Hindus -- to put a guarantee of 500 million rupiah (55,000 dollars) into a bank. If the couple divorce, the wife will be entitled to take the money. If they

stick together for at least 10 years, they can claim it as “shared property”.

“The provision... is intended to protect the rights of women and their children if their husbands neglect, fail to provide for, leave Indonesia secretly... divorce or do anything which harms their interests,” the bill says.

Love-struck couples are outraged.

“How ridiculous... the government wants to sell me off,” sniffed 36-year-old events organizer Roslina, who is planning to tie the knot with her German boyfriend, Christopher, in September.

“My future husband will pay the amount but that’s not the point. We’ll definitely marry abroad if this becomes law.”

A 24-year-old model who declined to be named said she and her boyfriend, also from Germany, were being unfairly discriminated against.

“It looks like the government has no respect for Indonesian women. It’s crazy to penalize only foreign men. Why not charge local men who marry three or four wives but can’t afford it?” she said.

Her 39-year-old boyfriend, a banker who declined to give his name, said,“It’s a clear statement by the government that it owns its people and it sells them on the meat market.”

The proposal, spearheaded by the religious affairs ministry, will be sent to parliament for approval by the end of the year, an official said.

The guarantee is designed to stop foreigners entering fake marriages in order to set up businesses or buy property in their wives’ names, and to ensure that women are financially secured against divorce, ministry official Nasaruddin Umar said.

“When the women are no longer of use, it’s usually goodbye to them,” he added without providing figures or research to back up his statement.

“Marriage is pure and sacred, it shouldn’t be tainted by lust or personal interests. We want to protect our women.”

The plan has drawn mixed responses from the country’s clerics, women’s groups and lawmakers.

Clerics in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country have thrown their weight behind the draft bill.

Critics say it will only encourage people to “live in sin” outside of wedlock, leaving women more vulnerable.

“I applaud this proposal. We’ve heard many cases of foreigners marrying our women and then deserting them and their kids with nothing,” Indonesian Council of Ulema chairman Amidhan told AFP.

But lawmaker Iskan Qolba Lubis said: “People want to marry because they’re in love so why are we making things difficult for them? It’s also discriminatory. We wouldn’t be happy if other countries did the same to us.”

Nia Schumacher of Melati Worldwide, a group which lobbies for the interests of people in mixed marriages, said the proposal would lead to an exodus of “runaway brides”.

“Or the couples may not register their marriages or skip marriage altogether and co-habit instead. Is that what the government wants?” she asked.

Some women’s rights activists say the plan treats women like a commodity and discriminates against foreign men.

“We clearly reject the proposal. It lowers the dignity of women and not all foreign men have that much money,” Association of Indonesian Women in Multinational Marriages (Srikandi) co-chairwoman Emmylia Hannig said.

“If the basis of the law is to protect women, it should apply to both foreign and local men. There are many cases of local men having several wives and ditching them without giving money,” she added.

Roslina said the bill was ruining romances as foreign men walked away from promises.

“My friend has lost a potential husband. She and her French boyfriend had been dating for four years and were planning to get married. But I heard the wedding has been postponed indefinitely,” she said.

“The man said he’s scared to get married because it’s unfair that he needs to pay.”

Agence-France Presse

Two french reporters deported

Antara News, Wednesday, May 26, 2010 18:13 WIB

Jayapura (ANTARA News) - The Immigration office in Jayapura has deported via Jakarta two French journalists who had been arrested when covering a public rally in front of the Papua legislative assembly (DPRP) on Tuesday.

Jayapura immigration chief Robert Silitonga said Wednesday morning that this morning he has deported the two French reporters by a Garuda Indonesia plane flying to Jakarta.

An investigation of the two, Baudoin Koeniag, producer of Mano mano TV Arte, and Calol Helene Lorthiois, indicated that they have violated the permits that had been given to them.

They arrived in Jayapura on Tuesday morning in the company of an interpreter.

Silitonga said that following the investigation, of the two French journalists only Baudoin Koeniag had a reporting license issued by the Indonesian Tourism Ministry on April 20, 2010, for news coverage of Aceh, Jakarta, Bali, Gorontalo and Sorong, but not Jayapura.

The permit was for making a documentary film on Indonesia`s future, Silitonga said.

Carol, on the other hand, came to Indonesia using a tourist visa, and therefore the two French nationals have misused the permits given to them, Robert Silitonga added.

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