Indonesia: "The sleeping giant" and other observations

Linford Andrews and Michaela Lessle, Jakarta

Meintjeskop Ditaba No III/I998

Many of us know the statistics on Indonesia. The world's fourth most populous country. The world's largest Muslim population. A major role player on the multilateral stage. Up to the latter half of 1997, Indonesia was one of the world's fastest growing economies, with a rate averaging 8 percent. A country of contrasts, with warm, turquoise waters lapping on to exotic beaches, lush tropical forests and snow-capped volcanic peaks.

What does this all mean in the greater scheme of things? Before the onset of the currency crisis and the recent political and social turmoil, Indonesia was a country that was about to emerge from years of poverty and relative obscurity in the doldrums. If the predictions were to be believed, would it have become the world's fifth largest economy by the year 2020? The fundamentals to achieve this phenomenal turnaround were certainly in place, not only economically, but also with the successful management of the social aspects of Indonesian life. Socially, with the bond of more than 300 ethnic groups, including both Malay and Melanesian peoples, plus more than 25 languages and over 200 dialects thrown in for good measure, one can appreciate the daunting task it must have been for the architects of this political entity we today call "Indonesia".

Intensive, successful social programmes in poverty alleviation, rural development, health care and development of human resources had placed Indonesia firmly on the road to achieving fully developed status. The "sleeping giant", as the country was often referred to, is today, on the one hand, showing signs of serious economic stagnation, while on the other, of a definite political re-awakening since the resignation of former President Soeharto in May 1998. Therefore, the "sleeping giant", at least economically, will continue to be in a dazed stupor for some time to come!

Having been here for quite some time, one could definitely see the development of Indonesia unfolding before one's eyes, with both positive and negative results. The increasing disparity in the income gap between rich and poor, the enormous infra-structural burden borne by cities like Jakarta, and the recent forest fires causedby "land clearing" operations, are just some of the negative aspects from such high speed development. (We described these issues in our article "Mission Impossible? Life in the Big Durian", in a previous edition of the Meintjeskop Ditaba).

Over the course of the last year, Indonesia has been faced by tragedies and what we diplomatically term “challenges", including air crashes, ferry sinkings, the currency crisis, and most recently, the political turmoil!

By' local standards, the speed of the political transition and social upheaval caught everyone, not least members of the diplomatic corps, completely by surprise! Spontaneous incidents of: riots and looting in mid-May 1998 prompted the Embassy to evacuate all spouses and children to Singapore. Members of the line-function and administration component elected to remain in Jakarta. 

This was not an easy decision to take but after much deliberation, staff decided that it was in the best interest of both the South African government and our citizens in Indonesia, to remain in Jakarta. Not many thanks were forthcoming from our citizens due to the fact that mission staff were not in a position to arrange charter flights or to organise a contingent of navy seals to physically airlift them out of Indonesia! 

Many South African citizens expressed their dissatisfaction that the Embassy could not assist them in this manner, even though we followed a similar policy instituted by most other embassies. We did advise those who wanted to evacuate, to take advantage of the extra flights laid on by many European and Asian airlines. However, once they were re-assured that mission personnel were not evacuating and therefore not deserting them, their shocked emotional state subsided and was replaced by a sense of calm and relief!

During the course of the riots, the Counsellor (Political) and his family were woken by the military and their night guard during the early hours of the morning, to be informed that their home might come under an "impending attack". They were requested to evacuate by foot to the nearest hotel ..... however, the nearest  hotel was about 3 km away and getting there on foot was definitely not an option  to be considered! Standing between their home and the closest hotel i.e. the Hilton, were several groups of looters and dark unlit roads. 

Therefore, a rational decision was taken to make a hasty get-away in the family vehicle.... the mission was thankful that, of the few roads that Mr Dahlke knew in Jakarta the one to the Hilton hotel was one of them! In a cloak-and-dagger like operation, the Dahlke family sped away from the house, hunched over the steering wheel with no car lights switched on. Thankfully they all arrived safe and sound at the hotel!

On a lighter note, the foreign assistant decided that since she chose not to evacuate, she would take precautionary measures by surrounding her house with as many lire extinguishers as possible. These would not only serve their intended purpose but also as a deterrent to any unwanted visitors! (Note: a new cultural weapon!)

The interesting aspect about observing the development of this country, must surely be those events and occurrences which border on the ridiculous ... and believe me, once you've experienced this side of Indonesian life, you can then truly say that "I have seen it all!"

Let us take the extremely topical subject of "traffic" in Jakarta, most expatriates do not drive themselves, but choose to employ an Indonesian to do the ... shall we dare say ... dirty deed! However, this makes for either a hair-raising experience, or a downright boring one! I mean, how many other smaller cities can boast of having such creative drivers like here in Jakarta ... who succeed in creating six lanes out of a three-lane highway? Or motorcyclists who weave in and out of traffic as if on a kamikaze-style suicide mission?

Furthermore, for pure visual excitement (!), in how many other cities in the world can one spot, in the space of only a few meters, the following: a limousine (Mercedes or Volvo) and numerous other luxury vehicles; a food cart being pushed in the middle of the road; a motor-cyclist with not one but four or five pillion passengers (none wearing helmets!); a cyclist ferrying ten live chickens tied together by their feet to some obscure marketplace; AND a three-wheeled bajaj (like the Thai "tuk-tuk") noisily transporting people from place to place?

On the subject of helmets, making the situation even more unusual, one often finds a motorcyclist with his entire family, i.e. wife and two or three kids, on ONE motorcycle .... with the father wearing a good safety helmet, the wife wearing what looks like a cheap polystyrene imitation of a helmet, and the kids wearing none!!

This may sound grossly illogical to us Westerners, used to the idea of protecting our children at all costs, but we have been told that the belief here in the Orient is that if a child dies, one can always have more children, but if a parent dies, that puts paid to any plans for future procreation!

Another aspect of life here that makes for interesting observation is the esoteric, sometimes frustrating, and challenging cultural differences. 

The Javanese, just one of more than 300 ethnic groups in this country tend by and large to dominate the social and political landscape, and to a slightly lesser extent the economic one. The latter is due to the fact that many Indonesians of Chinese descent tend to be the dominant players in the economy (and some of the wealthiest people in the country, if not the world. A perfect example here would be Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, Chairman of the Nusamba Group, a close friend of ex-President Soeharto and on the Forbes "100" list). Nevertheless, the "Javanese" way of doing things seems to infiltrate all aspects of life here.

A good example of the latter is the fact hat being different from others makes an Indonesian "malu" (embarrassed). The deepest insult for an Indonesian is to be made "malu" in front of others. Indonesians have a very finely developed code of social etiquette and politeness called "Sopan Santun". Politeness is therefore culturally defined, most particularly among the Javanese. What may be considered polite behaviour to foreigners may be impolite to Indonesians, and vice versa.

It is consistent with the Indonesians' strong need to avoid disruption of their inner and outer sense of harmony that they don't want to offend or displease others. 

Therefore, disagreeable or unpleasant things are never said directly. Public displays of anger and loss of control are disapproved. "Saving face", as is common in some other Asian countries, is thus very important in Indonesia.

How this phenomenon of "sopan santun" is effected in one's dealings with Javanese can be illustrated by this example: during  an official trip to Bandung, West Java, in March 1997, Ambassador Kubheka's official driver could not find the way to the hotel where the Ambassador was to stay. Stopping repeatedly to ask directions, the driver was given different answers by each and every person! Rather than risk embarrassment by saying "no", if they did not know the directions to the hotel, these individuals chose to make up an answer, which of course, proved to be incorrect. Needless to say, the cellular phone came in handy, and a quick phone call to the hotel itself solved the problem!

Another classic example occurred when Linford accompanied the Ambassador on an official trip to Yogyakarta, a province in Central Java. The flight they were on, of the national air carrier "Garuda Indonesia”, was delayed several times on the day d departure: during the first delay an explanation was given by the cabin crew, but subsequently, no further reassurances were given, causing a mild degree of panic among the passengers when a power failure caused the entire electronic system on the aircraft to shut down!! Even after repeated questioning by passengers, the cabin crew were not forthcoming to calm their fears! As a result, several passengers chose to leave the aircraft, and it took off several hours later with a group of very nervous passengers on board!... they did make itsafely! (Whew!)

The challenge that faces this unique culture is the constant infiltration of "Western" ideals, values and methods of  doing business. Trying to maintain the Indonesian way of doing business, while simultaneously emulating many Western aspects of business is indeed a difficult balancing act. The one area where 'Western values" has indeed crept in is the dress code for doing business. In Indonesia, a tropical country with extreme humidity and temperatures averaging 30 degrees Celsius on a daily basis, normal practice for businessmen is to wear suits (collar, tie, and in formal business meetings, a jacket). 

This practice is therefore uncomfortable and impractical in this climate. However, the business suit has reached the level of status symbol: the more expensive the label (preferably a designer one), the higher one's status. N ever mind the fact that one feels all choked and hot under the collar (literally!), even without wearing a jacket.

Of course, to defend the use of Western business suits, one can use the argument that most modern office buildings have their air conditioning set to what we term "Arctic mode" ... in other words, upon entering a doorway, you undergo an instant freeze from a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius outside, to 5 or 10 degrees inside!

Another interesting and controversial area of observation is the level of corruption in Indonesia. Recently voted as the second most corrupt country in Asia, after Pakistan" the Indonesian way of "getting things done" would certainly give any upstanding Swiss or Singaporean nationals heart failure! To get things done, whether clearing an item through customs or having renovations done to your house, it can either take "a couple of days, or several months, it depends on you" (quoted from a customs official in conversation to one of the transferred officials when asked about clearing something through customs).

Now, the "ridiculous" angle to this phenomenon is that customs officers would rather hold your uch beloved pets without clearing them, for several months after arrival in Indonesia, unless one is able to "pay them under the table" to clear them for you in a couple of hours. Now, what would one be forced to do in such a situation…I mean.poor”Fido” or “Gigi” or “Muggins” can certainly not suffer the cruelty of being held in filthy hot warehouses for days on end{ so one has to put your convictions aside, and follow suit! And this is after all the necessary clearance fees or documents, etc have already been paid!!

The level of corruption and quest to make money by whatever means thus reaches, in our Western thinking, unacceptable standards. Yet, in Indonesia, up to now, it has been considered part and parcel of daily life and the accepted way' of doing things. The recent political upheaval has led to an increasing outcry among Indonesians for an end to corrupt practices. This will undoubtedly take a long time to materialise.

Turning to aspects of the non-human variety, it should be let known that Jakarta is not just teeming with millions of people, cars, bajajs, dangerously overloaded buses spewing black clouds of smoke, bicycles overloaded with household utensils, or batches of live chicks (no, not the chicks you are thinking of!), but also mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats, mice, dogs and cats at every imaginable corner ... and even civet cats! Yep, you have heard right, civet cats in Jakarta ... can't be, or? (The definition of a civet cat according to Webster's New World Dictionary: "any of several nocturnal, catlike carnivores of Africa, India, Malaysia and Southern China, with spotted yellowish fur".

As for Linford's experience, he had an unusual visitor in his lounge. He was reading when, from the corner of his eye, he felt something watching him. Looking up, he saw a small face peek out from an opening on top of the curtain pelmet. A peek-a-boo ensued between both parties tor a while after which Linford decided that this had to stop. Bravely, he and the gardener managed to force this as yet, unidentified creature, to the floor.

However red-faced and all, Linford conceded that when this creature started chasing him, he managed a record breaking jump onto his study table from where he watched, secure in the thought of safety, the capture of this furry animal. On describing this animal the next morning, it transpired that his house guest was a young civet cat!

Cockroaches here are ugly and as big as the Parktown 'prawn. Their attack strategy is something to be reckoned with and unless you have been a soldier, you don't fool around with them! Our bat arm (or rather shoe) now lands most of the time, dead on target! If you miss, you do a merry dance around the room until you have caught the intruder. After having discovered some of them in your bed, the ritual before going to sleep is now to shake the bed covers, check the closet and look behind the curtains!

Cockroaches also inhabit the Embassy, and if you think that it is only the fairer sex* that gets rooted to the spot on the sight of these creatures, let me correct you on this point by relating the following: overhead one day in the office, when Trevor (3rd Secretary) piped up: "Michaela, as you don't seem to mind catching cockroaches, don't  you want to get rid of the one in my ollice?", or on spotting one crawling around one day, Michaela exclaimed: "Mr Vermaak, trap dood!" ... to which the response was only a blank stare! The result? Exterminator, "Ramboline" to the rescue!

Mission staff have however, in the meantime, got used to daily visits of rats, mice, civet cats and “kucing kampungs": when spotted trying to enter the house, any attempt at "shooing" them away is met with a stare of contempt and one is promptly ignored! Normally, in case of the latter, the banging of fists on the table or a hard stomp on the ground does the trick!

Michaela added this extra dimension to  "her animal experiences”: “Cats, thpse. wonderful creatures (literally and figuratively). The "kucing kampungs" or translated, village cats, just know there are kind-hearted South African souls in Jakarta. Scrawny and flea ridden they appear one by one from nowhere, their eyes begging for a morsel of food. The plight of the animals would make the SPCA and animal lovers cringe at the sight." Though many local people keep cats and dogs as pets, they are terribly neglected and near starvation.

Most South African households in Jakarta have "adopted" some of the cats that have strayed into their yard. However, it was sad when a few of them died but rather unsettling when the domestic servant stated where she had buried them ... in her garden which is now affectionately known as the "pet cemetery". In a subsequent, discussion on the matter, Michaela had wondered why her hibiscus bushes were not flourishing, to which Linford (with tongue very firmly in cheek!) remarked  ... maybe dead cats don't make good fertiliser? !"

Now, being a tropical paradise (anywhere except Jakarta!), inevitably the u1iguitous mosquito makes its presence felt, albeit in a "different" way. The mosquitoes here are the first that we've ever encountered that attack you in "silent" mode! In South Africa, one at least hears the critters before they lay their clutches on you, but in Indonesia? ... Here one wakes up the morning after with mosquito bites, not knowing how they ever managed to get so close to one's ear without being heard!

Their presence begs the question as to why there are so many of them in the tropics? Besides the conventional reasons, one observer stated that mosquitoes are not as stupid as we human beings think: they have figured out eons ago that heat and humidity make animals and humans move around much more slowly. Why work up a sweat chasing cold, fast-moving bodies when there's , easy prey at your beck and call? Furthermore, winter parkas and snowsuits are a bit more cumbersome to penetrate compared to all that sweet skin, tauntingly exposed when wearing tropical attire!

You would all have heard (and seen on CNN no doubt) the haze problems caused by the forest fires in Borneo and Sumatra. Well, Jakarta is already' the world's third most polluted city, so what's a little bit of haze gonna do? .... Just joking!! 

No, seriously, the biggest irony about these developments was that the neighbouring capita cities took the brunt of it, i.e. Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, while Jakarta came out of it relatively unscathed. Thank goodness, because then we would really have had breathing problems! The excessive pollution in cities like Jakarta, and many others in Asia, illustrates one of the biggest ironies of human life: i.e. that in our desperate desire to escape the financial poverty of rural life (where, in general, our quality of life tends to be better), we sacrifice essentials such as clean air and water for a life in the "big city".

The debate over the "economic miracle" in Asia, and the enormous sacrifices in quality of life that are being undertaken to achieve this miracle, continues unabated. 

Like so many other cities barely coping with such huge burdens, Jakarta will continue to remain in the spotlight for many years to come. Unfortunately, though, it seems that this spotlight will fall increasingly on the negative aspects of life in Jakarta. This has now become even more evident since the onset of the currency crisis and the steep rise in poverty levels in Indonesia. The perceived instability and threat of social unrest that brews below the veneer of tight political and military control, characterises the city of Jakarta in the near future.

The biggest challenge for foreigners living in Jakarta is exactly how to take all the all the “extremes” in one’stride: managing a few difficult aspects is acceptable, but when so many difficulties occur simultaneously,causing a major assault on one's senses, then it can become a burden: this can have an adverse effect on one's overall well-being and productivity. 

At the very least, the one observation that really rings true is the fact that while Indonesia may be one of the world's largest nations, it still lacks the complete understanding and knowledge of its culture in the West. In the greater scheme of things, this lack of understanding may be just the way the Indonesians like it: in the Javanese culture, this amounts to the social nicety of "maintaining a sense of inner harmony" as part of the phenomenon of "sopan santun”.

The Javanese puppet plays (“wayang kulit", or shadow puppets), in which the battle between good and evil is portrayed in a complex ritual of light and shadow cast on a screen, behind which the puppeteer carries out the movements, is illustrative: it can be translated into the Indonesian way of life, and their outlook to the rest of the world too. They are thus largely inward looking, but any engagement with foreign countries necessitates an ability to "read between the lines" or to "follow the shadows" to find the true essence or meaning to Indonesian intentions. 

If one can understand that aspect, it goes a long way in opening doors for any foreign engagement with Indonesia.

Despite the difficulties and challenges in working in Indonesia, the experience gained and lessons learnt make the encounter a personally enriching one. The turmoil that has befallen this country over the past couple of months has illustrated one important fact: that no matter how hard or adverse the situation, one does possess the capability and the mental strength to emerge through it all relatively unscathed.

The challenges that the Indonesian people have faced over the last year, and their ability to face it head on, can partly be explained by the character inherent in their culture: again, their need to maintain a sense of inner harmony has assisted them in facing these challenges. This is one example from where we can draw lessons. That, above all, is the best observation that can be made.

.:. Our apologies to the Gender Unit and to all politically correct officials in the Department. No sexism, male chauvinism, or political incorrectness was intended on our part!

The authors.