Prizes

Ever seen the picture on the right, or its equivalent in Indonesia's media? I bet most of you who lives in Indonesia have. Apparently, after asking around, this manner of marketing goes way back. Buy instant noodles, and you will get a coupon which may or may not win a car, or even a house. Buy a bar of soap, and you can send the wrappings that can function as lottery ticket, and you can win a BMW, or, lately, BlackBerry,.. not any smartphone, a BlackBerry. Even putting more money in your bank account will sometimes makes you elligible to receive some kind of prize. Someone I know got a small city car.

This type of marketing seems to work well in Indonesia, considering that the tactics haven't changed in decades. If it doesn't work well, they must've changed it a long time ago, I think..

Parking

See this guy which seems to be waving his hand, wearing blue uniform? Well, that is the ubiquitous formal "parking assistant", or better known in Indonesia as tukang parkir. When one thinks about parking in an Indonesian large-ish cities, these blokes are the first that come to mind, not the (also ubiquitous) parking metres.

As with Indonesia's traffic regulation, parking regulation is also blurry. Probably there are a set of clear rules of parking, however, inacessible to most people, stowed away in some Government office, forgotten. Most people therefore also know the customary street rules, which we are going to discuss in this post.

One just can never identify a legal area where one can park. Seems that every area, even those with a no parking sign standing firmly, can be used as parking spots. Sometimes, a parking area may block almost the whole width of the road, leaving a small space for one car to pass. Needless to say, this causes traffic congestion. When parking in a seemingly illegal parking area, never to worry that you will get a ticket or something,... you won't. There is a possibility that you may loose your rearview mirror, get scuff marks on your vehicle, but tickets you won't. Seems that the traffic police has just given up to issue tickets. In fact, I have seen a lot of motorcyclist refusing to stop at a red light, in front of a traffic police, without the police even trying to warn them or anything.

In almost (I'd say 99,99%) every parking area, we can find the said parking assistant. There are two types of these fellows, formals and informals. Formals are "paid" by the Government, and have two tasks, to assist a motorist to park, and collect parking fare from them. This explains the lack of existence of parking metres. Considering the rate of unemployment, parking metres are of course not a good idea.

Many times I need no assistance in parking. I have trained myself to park in the various manners of parking Jakarta can offer. Are these guys redundant? there are times that they aren't. Firstly, when one needs to park in a crowded area, these tukang parkirs will help you spot an empty spot, albeit it may not be ideal (can be too tight for your vehicle, in a hot sunny spot, etc). Getting out of your parking spot in a crowded area can be a lot easier too, thanks to these blokes. Indonesian drivers seem to hate the brake pedal so bad, that a person needs to stand and block their way for them to stop and give way to a vehicle getting out of a parking lot.

However, if those brake-hating-motorists are actually looking for a parking spot, the second they spot you walking to your car, seemingly to leave the place, they shall follow you, in their car, to your parking spot. If getting in your car takes ages, for example, you are with your family, with a baby in the stroller and groceries in a cart, they will patiently wait for you, in their car, blocking cars behind them from getting on with their quest of finding a parking spot. Of course, congestion and car horns ensues. This, is quite normal.

Informal tukang parkir on the other hand, is not paid by the Government. According to the regulations, it is possible that the area in which they are operating, is a not for free parking, however, for some reason no formal tukang parkir are seen. Or, that area could be a free parking area, but for some reason these guys think they'd just show up and collect money from you. They too has two tasks, "offer" their assitance for parking your vehicle, and collect money from motorists for themselves. By parking on this area, you are inherently accepting their offer of assistance. Therefore it is natural that they expect you to pay them when you leave (sometimes you have to pay in advance). If you are caucasian, expect that they will charge you above the Government fare. Not paying may result in a small un-buff-able mark, or even perhaps a smallish to a noticeable dent to your vehicle. This, according to Indonesian law is actually a criminal offence, however, good luck trying to get the authorities to prosecute these people.

Mobile Phones

Many indonesians have acute obsessions on mobile phones. They care about their phones a whole lot, by equipping them with various accesories, such as, extra case, necklaces (so that the can be wearable as a necklace), and so on.

Mobile phones are apparently considered as a status symbol, similar to watches, in the likes of patek philippe, vacheron constantin, or the most well known, rolex. Watches however has more or less lost its function of status symbol, thanks to the abundance of fakes in indonesia (this shall be further elaborated in another post).

being status symbol means mobile phones are mostly not bought based on the needs nor income of the buyer. So it is common to find smartphones (a particular brand has been the trend recently), being used by those who actually do not need the premium features a smartphone offer, and the phone may cost 3 months salary of the owner. Mind you that in indonesia, getting a phone from a subscription contract is highly unlikely.

this hype however, opens a new field of business. There lots and lots small shops selling accesories, many of them are clustered together, with each shop busy with at least 3 customers at a time. Interestingly however, finding a bluetooth handsfree headset in these clusters is almost impossible.

in short, if you wish to be humble, get a cheap-ish phone, however risking being ridiculed, covertly at the very least. If you want to make an impression or perhaps, make friends, get something over your budget. You just have to flash it, don't have to know how to use it..

Philosophy of Water

Unknown to many outsiders, Indonesia had many philosophers which do not share the same fame as that of the Greek’s. Unbeknownst to most Indonesian, their philosophy lives on through their upbringing, instead of thick books, and is influencing their present way of life.
The water philosophy however, can not be confirmed to be rooted to those ancient philosophy, but very apparent in everyday’s Indonesian life.

Getting into an elevator, one can see this philosophy in motion. Like water, people will fill all voids in front of the elevator door, the first who arrive shall take the nearest position to the door. Pregnant women or parents with strollers, if they arrive later, will not be prioritized. When the elevator finally arrives, the door opens, and like water, the current from inside the elevator slams against the current from outside the elevator, and those larger molecules (pregnant women and parent with strollers) need to compete with smaller and more agile molecule. Note that many times escalators may be placed nearby, that the smaller and more agile molecules can instead take those escalators instead of taking up room for those who really need the elevator.

One can see this behavior also on the streets, especially that of big cities. All molecules of all sizes, motorcycles, cars, SUVs, Buses, Trucks, will fill every empty void in the road whenever possible, disregarding any traffic signs. This of course will cause traffic jam, because unlike water, vehicles can’t be somewhat be compressed and produce higher pressure when passing through small openings.

As such, to go with the flow does not seem to be a good idea. Only do that if you have no other choice.

Myths

Indonesia is a country full of myths, believed to be absolutely true, sometimes even when scientific evidence shows otherwise. These myth-believers come from every strata of the society. The myths themselves are not necessarily those existing for hundreds of years. New myths seems to be invented every day.

Example of old myths are:
1. the legend of Malin Kundang, the son who disown his mother for being poor, became a rock after being cursed by the mother.
2. the legend of Jaka Tarub, a guy who stole the wings of an angel to marry her.

Aside from nation-wide known myths, local myths also exists. For example, a lake may be believed to be the lair of white crocodiles, who can turn magically into humans in certain days of the year. A tree may be believed to be the resting place of genies.

Nevertheless, the "newer" breed of myths are the ones that are more interesting. examples of these myths are:
1. shaking your car while refuelling generates more space for the fuel. Physics confirms however, that liquids shall follow the form of its container. imagine shaking a bucket full of water, does it generate more space for the water?
2. On the road, motorcyclist can do no wrong. What ever you do as a motorcyclist, however damaging to other motorists you are never wrong. This of course, is not stated anywhere in Indonesian law, however, is believed to be true by most motorcyclists.
3. common cold is caused by devilish germs, that cure must involve numerous kinds of medications, including anti biotics, even when the cold is caused by viruses.
4. ... and many others.

Debunking the myths may take a lot of time and energy at times. So when not totally necessary, just let the myths live and prosper.