As I originally contemplated writing this article, I was aware I was pissed off by something and wanted to have my say, but as I typed and edited I began to see that it was something bigger. And that's why it so bothered me.
There was a famous commercial many years ago in my country that showed a first nations man in full head dress with a tear running down his cheek. The tag line was: A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste.
To this day - I don't remember what the advert was for, but I think that sums up why this upsets me. And why I'm writing. We could say - Indonesia is a terrible country to waste. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This is actually a continuation of my Thinking of Living in Bali? series, but the ideas apply to the whole of Indonesia.
So, IF you are considering living in Bali/Indonesia, there is a very annoying aspect of life here. Something that is one of the banes of this country and especially pronounced in Bali.
And just today it hit me why I detest it so much. It is the practice of charging one price to locals (a lower one) and a significantly higher price to foreigners.
And I'm going to be brutally honest. It is the foreigner visitors themselves who often instigate and encourage this practice. They look at someone working hard, charging a fair price -- by this country's standards -- for some service.
They hear the price and immediately decide THAT'S NOT ENOUGH.
So they offer more!
"Oh you poor thing. We won't let you work for that." is the well-intentioned but foolish beginning.
I've seen this too many times to recount.
Yes - by Western standards - people here work for pennies. But --- and this is the point of this pointed post --- there is a reason WHY this is so.
Have we forgotten how hard many of our grand fathers and mothers were working - for pennies - before our countries developed?
But for a moment, let's go back to the locals and their sordid practice of maintaining a two-tiered pricing structure. And keep in mind, this has nothing to do with foreigners picking up their fair share of taxes or any other such (possibly) legitimate explanation.
It is ENVY. Many locals see the relatively rich Westerns (or should i say people from more developed countries?) who are comparatively better off than them.
Fine. But it is what they then choose to do with that envy that is the problem.
IF they said to themselves: "Damn, look at that dude with his hot girl, cool car and great life. I wanna be like him. I'm gonna work my ass off and make a better life for myself and my family."
If they say that, I'm their biggest fan and supporter. But that is not what many say.
Instead too many say: "Look at that rich foreigner. How can I get some of her money so I can have better life?"
In this way, there is direct link between envy and greed. And NO, Gordon Gekko is WRONG. Greed is NOT good. The profit motive is good. That is what has built our world. But -
Greed is a perversion of that good and natural desire which kills the will and creativity to growth, production and development.
And ENVY and GREED are two diseases Indonesians have in cancerous proportions. Hence - a two price structure.
But, while this does temporary damage to visitors and is an constant source of irritation and injustice to foreigners who live here,
it cripples the Indonesians.
It retards them because as this attitude has metastasized into their whole culture and AND THE REASON THEY TOLERATE their unbelievably corrupt government.
Many, (i hope not most) no longer look for ways to better themselves by hard, clever, creative work that produces a better good or service.
Instead...
They have developed a mentality of looking for ways to extort money from people who have it. The parking mafia is another great example that I'll come to in a moment...
And I believe THIS is one of the main ubiquitous attitudes which keeps Indonesia in the Dark Ages.
Retards it, its development, its people and stunts its future.
And makes it one of the laughing stocks of Asia.
It is also why Japan has bullet trains and Indonesia still runs trains from the 1930s,
and still doesn't even have the equivalent of a national expressway system. It still piddles along with a dilapidated set of railways and local roads.
It is still the 1950s.
Unbelievable? Yes. True? Yes. In Indonesia there is still no express way between it's two largest cities, Jakarta and Surabaya. That's right.
You have only locals highways that are notoriously narrow, dangerous and eternally congested with bicycles, motorbikes, peddle-taxis, peddler-carts, cars, buses, lorries and construction vehicles.
Amid this cacophonous mess, you still need to stop for trafic lights in every town and berg along the way.
Nor does it have a modern rail system.
Consider this:
Nozomi class bullet trains cover the distance from Tokyo to Osaka (about 550 kilometers) in 2 1/2 hours. If Indonesia had bullet trains, one could travel from Jakarta to Surabaya (796 km) in 3 hours 40 minutes.... And from Jakarta to Denpasar (1206 km) in 5 1/2 hours.
BUT...
the reality today is that from Jakarta to Denpasar (Bali) would take at least a day -- [by car or train] and likely longer with chronically common delays.
But that's not all:
In Indonesia, there is a common site on the streets you won't see in most other countries - parking men. These are men who stand in front of some shop or restaurant and literally help squeeze you into a parking space.
Because many streets are narrow, and the parking areas narrow as well, these men often serve the valuable function of helping people into the narrowest of spaces, then directing traffic to help them safely re enter the flow when they leave.
They often even ask you to leave you car in neutral so they can push it forward or backward to make room for another car to pass into or out of the parking area. And for this, they collect a fee from each car.
Fair enough.
BUT, there are also many occasions --- and this is why i call them the Parking Mafia --- when they perform no work, no function. Keep in mind, these are places that would be FREE parking in developed countries.
They simply collect a fee from you for ENTERING THEIR ZONE. They merely sit like a security guard and collect your money. But they provide no security.
The money they collect doesn't go beautify the city, plant trees, build roads, rails, hospitals, schools or feed the poor.
It goes in these mens pockets. And many of these men make hundreds and even thousands of dollars per month in a country where most people still live on a few dollars a day.
The system is tolerated because when someone refuses to pay, the parking mafia are known to retaliate: Things like keying your car.... or worse.
This is EXTORTION.
So, when Indonesians, especially the Balinese give up this self-defeating bid to extort money from the productive in order to subsidize their laziness. ..
When they give up and this weak, pathetic behavior and decide to start building their country by providing better goods and services in their businesses, THEN AND ONLY THEN
will they have the balls to begin
DEMANDING better government from their third-world idiot stand-ins for leaders. And they will have turned a corner and pushed the button on the Indonesian Renaissance.
Because... they will never eliminate corruption in their government until they give it up amongst themselves and against foreigners.
When they do, they will have high speed rail, a modern expressway system and streets that don't flood up to your waist every time it rains. In short - a modern country with quality services and infrastructure.
And they will be richer. Maybe richer than the people now visiting Indonesia...
I wonder how much longer they will slovenly accept the status quo? How long they will persist in their greed?
How long until they give up their pathetic attempts to get something for nothing?
Because until they do - they don't deserve better. And until they do - they will remain poor and retarded.
Until they do...
They will continue to live narrow, short, darkened lives --- as they deserve.
I wonder: Is that Karma?
There was a famous commercial many years ago in my country that showed a first nations man in full head dress with a tear running down his cheek. The tag line was: A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste.
To this day - I don't remember what the advert was for, but I think that sums up why this upsets me. And why I'm writing. We could say - Indonesia is a terrible country to waste. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This is actually a continuation of my Thinking of Living in Bali? series, but the ideas apply to the whole of Indonesia.
So, IF you are considering living in Bali/Indonesia, there is a very annoying aspect of life here. Something that is one of the banes of this country and especially pronounced in Bali.
And just today it hit me why I detest it so much. It is the practice of charging one price to locals (a lower one) and a significantly higher price to foreigners.
And I'm going to be brutally honest. It is the foreigner visitors themselves who often instigate and encourage this practice. They look at someone working hard, charging a fair price -- by this country's standards -- for some service.
They hear the price and immediately decide THAT'S NOT ENOUGH.
So they offer more!
"Oh you poor thing. We won't let you work for that." is the well-intentioned but foolish beginning.
I've seen this too many times to recount.
Yes - by Western standards - people here work for pennies. But --- and this is the point of this pointed post --- there is a reason WHY this is so.
Have we forgotten how hard many of our grand fathers and mothers were working - for pennies - before our countries developed?
But for a moment, let's go back to the locals and their sordid practice of maintaining a two-tiered pricing structure. And keep in mind, this has nothing to do with foreigners picking up their fair share of taxes or any other such (possibly) legitimate explanation.
It is ENVY. Many locals see the relatively rich Westerns (or should i say people from more developed countries?) who are comparatively better off than them.
Fine. But it is what they then choose to do with that envy that is the problem.
IF they said to themselves: "Damn, look at that dude with his hot girl, cool car and great life. I wanna be like him. I'm gonna work my ass off and make a better life for myself and my family."
If they say that, I'm their biggest fan and supporter. But that is not what many say.
Instead too many say: "Look at that rich foreigner. How can I get some of her money so I can have better life?"
In this way, there is direct link between envy and greed. And NO, Gordon Gekko is WRONG. Greed is NOT good. The profit motive is good. That is what has built our world. But -
Greed is a perversion of that good and natural desire which kills the will and creativity to growth, production and development.
And ENVY and GREED are two diseases Indonesians have in cancerous proportions. Hence - a two price structure.
But, while this does temporary damage to visitors and is an constant source of irritation and injustice to foreigners who live here,
it cripples the Indonesians.
It retards them because as this attitude has metastasized into their whole culture and AND THE REASON THEY TOLERATE their unbelievably corrupt government.
Many, (i hope not most) no longer look for ways to better themselves by hard, clever, creative work that produces a better good or service.
Instead...
They have developed a mentality of looking for ways to extort money from people who have it. The parking mafia is another great example that I'll come to in a moment...
And I believe THIS is one of the main ubiquitous attitudes which keeps Indonesia in the Dark Ages.
Retards it, its development, its people and stunts its future.
And makes it one of the laughing stocks of Asia.
It is also why Japan has bullet trains and Indonesia still runs trains from the 1930s,
and still doesn't even have the equivalent of a national expressway system. It still piddles along with a dilapidated set of railways and local roads.
It is still the 1950s.
Unbelievable? Yes. True? Yes. In Indonesia there is still no express way between it's two largest cities, Jakarta and Surabaya. That's right.
You have only locals highways that are notoriously narrow, dangerous and eternally congested with bicycles, motorbikes, peddle-taxis, peddler-carts, cars, buses, lorries and construction vehicles.
Amid this cacophonous mess, you still need to stop for trafic lights in every town and berg along the way.
Nor does it have a modern rail system.
Consider this:
Nozomi class bullet trains cover the distance from Tokyo to Osaka (about 550 kilometers) in 2 1/2 hours. If Indonesia had bullet trains, one could travel from Jakarta to Surabaya (796 km) in 3 hours 40 minutes.... And from Jakarta to Denpasar (1206 km) in 5 1/2 hours.
BUT...
the reality today is that from Jakarta to Denpasar (Bali) would take at least a day -- [by car or train] and likely longer with chronically common delays.
But that's not all:
In Indonesia, there is a common site on the streets you won't see in most other countries - parking men. These are men who stand in front of some shop or restaurant and literally help squeeze you into a parking space.
Because many streets are narrow, and the parking areas narrow as well, these men often serve the valuable function of helping people into the narrowest of spaces, then directing traffic to help them safely re enter the flow when they leave.
They often even ask you to leave you car in neutral so they can push it forward or backward to make room for another car to pass into or out of the parking area. And for this, they collect a fee from each car.
Fair enough.
BUT, there are also many occasions --- and this is why i call them the Parking Mafia --- when they perform no work, no function. Keep in mind, these are places that would be FREE parking in developed countries.
They simply collect a fee from you for ENTERING THEIR ZONE. They merely sit like a security guard and collect your money. But they provide no security.
The money they collect doesn't go beautify the city, plant trees, build roads, rails, hospitals, schools or feed the poor.
It goes in these mens pockets. And many of these men make hundreds and even thousands of dollars per month in a country where most people still live on a few dollars a day.
The system is tolerated because when someone refuses to pay, the parking mafia are known to retaliate: Things like keying your car.... or worse.
This is EXTORTION.
So, when Indonesians, especially the Balinese give up this self-defeating bid to extort money from the productive in order to subsidize their laziness. ..
When they give up and this weak, pathetic behavior and decide to start building their country by providing better goods and services in their businesses, THEN AND ONLY THEN
will they have the balls to begin
DEMANDING better government from their third-world idiot stand-ins for leaders. And they will have turned a corner and pushed the button on the Indonesian Renaissance.
Because... they will never eliminate corruption in their government until they give it up amongst themselves and against foreigners.
When they do, they will have high speed rail, a modern expressway system and streets that don't flood up to your waist every time it rains. In short - a modern country with quality services and infrastructure.
And they will be richer. Maybe richer than the people now visiting Indonesia...
I wonder how much longer they will slovenly accept the status quo? How long they will persist in their greed?
How long until they give up their pathetic attempts to get something for nothing?
Because until they do - they don't deserve better. And until they do - they will remain poor and retarded.
Until they do...
They will continue to live narrow, short, darkened lives --- as they deserve.
I wonder: Is that Karma?
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