5 biggest misconceptions about Indonesia
The Jakarta Post Travel talked to some people and found five common misconceptions about what foreigners think of this country.
1. Bali is in Indonesia, really?
With so many good – and bad - stories about Bali, many foreigners are still not aware of the fact the island is a province of Indonesia. All they knew was that Bali was located near Indonesia.
Or, should I say Indonesia is located near Bali?
Adhika Aryaguna, an engineer who works in a multinational oil company, often received that question from his fellow engineers coming from different countries.
Once his friends found out that he was from Indonesia, they would ask “Where is exactly Indonesia from Bali?”
And yes, this misconception continued even after Hollywood’s blockbuster Eat, Pray and Love, which explored Bali’s magnificent scenery and featured romantic comedy queen Julia Roberts, which hit cinemas in 2010.
Yanti Rachmadini, an engineer who works in Singapore, shared Adhika’s story even though the Little Red Dot is one of Indonesia’s closest neighbors –geographically speaking.
The Indonesian citizen who once studied in Kansas, Yunetta Anggiamurni, said that one of his professors teaching international politics, asked her whether Bali was a part of Indonesia.
2. We live in real houses
Korinatzky Atmelia, an Indonesian who lives in Dubai, was surprised when many foreigners asked “do your people still live on a tree?”
When Lily Ardas was in Canada, she also received similar question. People asked her whether Indonesian people use caves as their house.
The truth is, not many Indonesians, even those in small and remote areas, ever lived on a tree like Tarzan did. The era of hunting and living inside a cave has also ended for most of the tribes in the archipelago.
In fact, people in the archipelago do pay a lot of attention to the place they live, resulting in complicated, symbolistic and
carefully built traditional houses.
Rumah Gadang in Sumatra, Rumah Panggung in Kalimantan and Tongkonan in Sulawesi are some of the examples of beautiful traditional houses.
There are also modest houses, like the Honai in Papua, which are made from simple materials but have maximum function.
3. Covered from head to toe
Zessi Faly from Jakarta joined a student exchange program to New Zealand. Her host parents, who were invited to her forthcoming wedding day, ask her about the appropriate clothing for the event.
They consider that Indonesia, as the world’s biggest Muslim country, have the similar dress code with Middle East where women must cover themselves from head to toe in public.
Actually, if we walk around the streets, we will find many women wearing headscarf. However, there is no obligation for women to cover up their look when going out of their houses.
While the majority of the Indonesian population follows Islam, adapting Arabian dressing style, let alone Islamic law, is not the common thing.
There are only few regions that adapt themselves to Islamic law, but the country officially acknowledges other religions such as Buddhism and Christianity.
And no, Indonesian law does not include stoning or canning either.
Jenita Darmento, who used to intern in Singapore, shared her experience assisting a group of Iranian women. The women were
surprised to learn that she was from Indonesia, yet she wore cross necklace. They thought that all Indonesians were Muslim.
4. Good English
Femmy Soemantri who worked for the UN, shared the most common remark about her English proficiency. People are often surprised on how fluent her English is. They hardly believed that someone who was born and raised in Indonesia could master English.
It is true that Indonesian is the mother language. However, our mother language has enabled us to master other foreign languages with good and clear accents.
In many cases, educated Indonesians speak English better than other countries in Asia.
Most Indonesians speak American English, thanks to the cultural invasion of the superpower country on music, movies and television
shows.
5. Lights on in our homes
“Do you have electricity back home? Is there any high-rise building in your country?” were some of questions that Femmy Mangunkusumo received when she worked for a European company in Singapore.
Similar experience happened to Oktarina Prasetyowati who joined a social camp a years ago. A German friend of hers in the camp was so surprised that she had a laptop and mobile phone, only knew of Oktarina’s home from what they had learned from the news on remote place in Papua that barely had access to clean water and electricity.
Yunetta, Program Officer at United Nation’s UNDP, was asked if Jakarta had high-rise buildings.
The truth is that Indonesian cities, especially Jakarta, has numerous skyscrapers. The country is also on top of the list for social media users such as Facebook and Twitter.
On the other hand, the country does have a serious problem on creating equal development in all areas. What was seen in Papua, and other regions too is real and becomes one of the biggest problems to solve.
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