in this video i'm going to talk about 10 things that you shouldn't do in indonesia
what's up everyone my name is Hendra i was born and grew up in jakarta indonesia
the tips i'm giving you today is based on my own personal experience indonesia is such a
big country with a diverse culture so it's just a rule of thumb and i assume you watch
this video because you want to come to indonesia for sightseeing to do business or just curious
about indonesian culture so let's go to tip number one tip number one don't address older people
with their first name only in Australia we call each other mate regardless of their social standing
call my boss with the first name in fact that's one of the cultural shocks my parents experienced
when they came here they thought like why people here are quite rude why they call older people
the seniors by their first name only because back home people value hierarchy there's quite
a power distance between a boss an employee parents kids older people and younger people
if you want to call someone older than you you need to add Bapak (Mr) or Ibu (Madam) don't worry
if you don't catch the indonesian words i will leave them on the description below
if they are your superior like your boss you need to add Tuan which is for for male or Nyonya
if she is a female tip number two get relaxed with timeliness if you are an expat
probably the first line that you pick up is that "Mengapa semua datang terlambat?" why everyone is running late
for some indonesians time is an elastic concept we have a term for this "Jam Karet" literally means
rubber band so if you plan to meet someone at 10 o'clock just tell them to come at 9 no kidding
i did that one with my friends when i was still in high school
and it works it doesn't disappoint me for sure tip number three don't drink from the tap water
tap water in indonesia is not suitable for drinking even in hotel they will provide you with a
bottled water most indonesian at home they get the drink from the commercial bottled water like aqua
if they have if they don't have an access to that commercial bottled water
then they will just filter the tap water and then boil it to kill the bacteria
tip number four and this is the serious one DON'T CARRY DRUGS TO INDONESIA
and in case you don't know that bali is also part of indonesia it's truly no excuse because you
might have heard, read from the news that foreigners being executed in bali for smuggling drugs
when you arrive on the airports there's plenty of warnings you gotta you got a warning on
the arrival card and you also got a warning on the airport like a big banner telling you that
there will be death penalty if you carry drugs i know it sounds harsh because in Australia at
least we don't have a death penalty here some people see drugs as just an illegal substance
or just a cheeky way to have fun but Indonesians don't see it that way to give you a context when
i was in high school in Jakarta my teacher told me if you want to destroy a country
don't bother sending an army just send them drugs and see what happen in the next decades to their
young generations so Indonesians see a fight on drugs is a fight for the future generations
tip number five avoid eating in front of people during the month of Ramadan no one will stop you
from eating but is considered respectful if you refrain from eating if you know that they are fasting
go somewhere else if you can but if you can't that's fine just tell the person that hey i'm
sorry i know that you're fasting do you mind if i sit here and eat in most cases they will say yes
tips number six don't discuss sensitive political issues and make fun of religion. East Timor, West
Papua don't discuss them in the name of human rights just leave them to your politicians
indonesians are proud people they fought for their independence and they were also part
of non-alignment movement back in the cold war so they won't appreciate an outsider muddling
their internal affair on religion well i have to say that the indonesia i grew up with back
in 1990s is different compared to today's i don't remember a religion being weaponized
to take people down at the time but now you see that whenever there's an agree disagreement in
politics you almost most likely will see religion being in play if you as a non-indonesian are
genuinely curious about certain religious practice or belief and you have appointed questions to ask
the first thing you have to do is that you need to find someone who is close to you or
at least someone who is cool-headed not too overly sensitive and secondly ask the question in private
respectfully because most indonesian won't bother asking pointy questions when it comes to religions
they just want to keep things in peace and harmony tip number seven take off your shoes when you
enter a house this tip i think that applies to all asians not just indonesian specific
the reason is that because we don't like to bring dirt to our homes so when you enter a house
to like an indonesian house please leave your shoes outside they'll be really much appreciated
tip number eight wear modestly and simply especially in remote parts of indonesia
first reason is because indonesia is largely a conservative society a normal thing like i'm
wearing a tank top for women in australia could draw staring eyes or cat calling
second reason is for your own safety if you know that you will travel a lot on foot
don't wear an expensive watch otherwise you are just going to provide bad people with bad
intention with good opportunity to rob you tip number nine use your right hand use your right
hand when you want to shake someone's hand point fingers or want to hand something to someone
do you know why because indonesians most indonesian at least they use their left
hand to wipe the bum yes you hear it right they wipe their bum using their left hand
so it's considered rude and dirty if you use your laugh and being left-handed doesn't excuse you but
if you're forced to use your left hand for whatever reasons you can say something like "Maaf pakai tangan kiri"
sorry i had to use my left hand tip number 10 the last one use indirect language when you want to
disagree with someone especially if they are older than you your superior or any Asian parents
basically it doesn't matter whether you are objectively right what matter is you have caused
someone to lose face the worst thing you can do in this space is that when you disagree with someone
publicly and in anger if you find yourself in a spot where you have to give a brutal
honest opinion while saving other people's face then probably the best thing to do is just smile
and then just nod your head and then later on when the opportunity arrives just grab the person
and tell your honest opinion that's it for me guys thank you if you watch this video all the
way to the end i really appreciate that this is the first time that i put my face
in front of a camera it's not really easy so please give please leave me a feedback below
i really appreciate that and if you do enjoy this video or if you learn something new
then please give it a like and subscribe thank you i see you next time bye