Indonesian Diary Entry

13 October 2001.  

Day ? of the crisis. The number of days of crisis depends on how one counts so I’ll leave it to the reader to count. It can be said, though, that there have been enough days that most people’s attitudes have evened out. For example evacuation is no longer the first thing ex pats talk about. Personally, I am back to spending as much time on the sports section as on the international news section of the paper. I could go on with such examples but fit really isn’t worth doing. You get the idea. A couple of things from the dark side are interesting. I just returned from a department store, and one of the adjacent stores is McDonald’s. You may have read that stores identified with the U.S. are targets of radical protestors. McDonald’s and KFC are the two biggest Indonesian targets. So it was no real surprise that there were a number of soldiers hanging around the perimeter of the shop. But it is odd that McDonald’s needs military protection. The American Embassy has basically been closed all week. It has been the focus of protest, although there have also been protests at the Parliament and a few other buildings. The number of armed forces outside the Embassy is remarkable. And the associated equipment is really scary. One effect of this is that traffic anywhere in the vicinity of the Embassy is messed up, even more than pre-Afghanistan. I won’t try and give an “eye on Indonesia” type of report or tell you what the Indonesians really think. That would be absurd. But one thing that I have observed in such regard is that there really is questioning here as to why the mega-power finds it necessary to go after a country as poor and weak as Afghanistan. This should lead to general disapproval of the U.S. (or U.S. led) action. However, there is such a high consciousness of the importance of direct foreign investment, and U.S. DFI in particular, that everyone in a high public position is taking the position that it doesn’t really matter whether the action is completely justified - what matters is that we must keep the country attractive to investors. Bringing it back to the personal level, one of the reasons I feel comfortable here is that if anything happens to me it would be incredibly expensive for Indonesia. I am the ultimate free rider.

Some observations on life in Jakarta, spawned from the last few days. In the States a department store is mainly a single store (Filenes) with a couple of franchise departments. Here the department store seems to have grown out of the street stall or open-air market tradition. The store has a number of independent sellers in common space. (This is by no means obvious.) I was looking for a wallet. There is no wallet section. I found wallets in four different departments and I am sure there were more. Since each little section is selling its own wares rarely are you given any advice on where similar items are sold. A more interesting experience in the same store was associated with a purchase of a gift (for Trudy’s birthday, so I have to be a little circumspect in my description). I was surprised to get involved with a little bit of bargaining. In fact, I was so surprised that I bargained hardly at all. When the deal was consummated I presented a credit card and received a very disapproving look. I was told by the four people I was negotiating with (I’m not sure where they came from but all of a sudden there were clerk type people all around) that I really should pay cash and that as the item needed some special attention they would deliver it to my hotel. Acting quite a bit out of character, I agreed. It was pretty stupid to do so, as by now I was feeling like a minor character in a low grade movie, but my defense is that I was not asked for any money in advance. So, sure enough, on the appointed day I got the appointed call, and I met the representative (in fact two reps - they too travel in pairs) at the hotel. They suggested we go up to my room but by this time I was pretty wary and counter suggested a spot in the lobby. At this point the story probably should end with them grabbing the money and running off, but instead they gave me the package and after I checked to make sure that it was the item I wanted I gave them the cash. (Since the denominations of the bills haven’t kept up with inflation “the cash” was a big wad.) And then, they followed up the transaction by giving me a gift! This was not a transaction out of econ 101. Strange is much too mild a word. But it was sure fun in retrospect. I won’t report on all the dreams I had prior to the consummation of the deal, and how each of them ended with me in a different awful position.

On taxi drivers. My belief has been that taxi drivers have special skills. I am no longer sure. When I asked someone about this I was told that taxi drivers for companies other than Blue Bird are basically people without jobs who have driver’s licenses. They generally get me from one spot to another, but the fare for the same trip can differ by a factor of two. I am told that I am not being bilked but that drivers hate sitting in traffic because they have to keep working the clutch. If they do have special skill it has to do with an ability and willingness to ignore the presence of virtually any non-stationary object. This includes small animals, vehicles of two, three and four wheels, and of course pedestrians. This is fine when you are in the taxi. It is something of a problem when you are the pedestrian. (Perhaps the quarry is a better word.)

Today I visited two museums. One was a puppet museum. Anyplace else this would be a place for children. In Indonesia shadow puppets and puppetry (Wayang) are a very important part of the culture. A man who is a fourth generation puppeteer took me around. It really was wonderful. At the end he suggested I by some puppets made by his father, and I just might do it. The other museum was a museum of fine arts. In truth, the puppet museum had it all over this one.

One more McDonald’s note of a different sort. In the past my experience with this chain has been rather limited. It is not exactly veggie friendly. In fact, previous visits have generally been for the purpose of finding a clean toilet. Today, as part of my research on the treatment of American institutions, I wandered in - just to check things out of course. And what I discovered was that they serve a dip cone. Just like DQ, only maybe, perhaps, possibly, a little better. I am trying to be objective and it’s very difficult to do so under such circumstances (recall, I really am in Indonesia) but I would describe the coating as a little thicker and not quite as sweet as DQ. I intend to pursue this matter and do tastings under a variety of conditions. There may be a further report.

The coming week will see me going off from Jakarta to Palembang. I was supposed to go this past week but the Afghanistan attack led to a cancellation of the plans. I am looking forward to seeing another city, to giving a talk to the econ faculty, and meeting some new people. From what I have been told the city is nothing like the others I have experienced, so it should be fun.

One last note for Sunday: At last, a morning run. Joy in the morning.