Indonesian Diary Entry

12 November 2001.

I have just returned from a nice weekend in Yogya, and will just write a little bit about the last week.

Life has really settled into a routine in Solo. I am giving about one lecture a week in a class, and an occasional other lecture to some other group. The past week has been a little congested as I gave a seminar to the economics faculty on Saturday the 3rd, a class on the 6th, a seminar to the equivalent of the MBA faculty on the 10th, and then tomorrow another class. The talks have fallen into a routine that may be worth describing.

My objective in all the talks is to given them a view of an American, and to try and present myself as a typical American academic. I know that is a silly and impossible objective, but I think of it as different from the usual objective of a class or seminar, which is oriented towards passing along certain information (or technique). This is in line with what the people here asked me to do when I can, so I feel comfortable with the goal. Things have changed a little since my first foray into a classroom. Let me start with what I’ve been doing all along.

I know that I’ve said a few times that the technology, and use of educational technology, in Indonesia is limited. This is most obvious with respect to the use of computers. But all classrooms I’ve been in have overhead projectors, and getting photocopies of materials is quite simple, so I rely on those two things. In this way I can get an outline in the hands of people, and I can get the most important material before them with clarity. This seems to be working. I do not get many questions (well, hardly any) but when I press people with questions of my own they seem to understand the major points.

The biggest change in my lecturing has been a conscious effort to get discussion. This is always difficult, and I was told it would be difficult before I came. I have tried a few different things, with mixed success. One thing that seems to fit into the customary format is to leave time at the end of the class (or lecture) for questions or discussion. The comments that come forward can be amusing and totally unexpected. I think this is because the students will do the same thing I do in local conversation – contemplate what they are going to say for a long time in preparation, and then deliver the question or comment as if it was spontaneous. Most of the times the question will be completely unrelated to what I have been talking about. But once again, that is OK as long as I remember that an important part of what I am doing is being the American in residence. Even though I should have known it was coming, the first time this happened I was non-plussed. I had been talking about commodity monies (or some related topic) and a student asked me about currency boards (a topic that is often treated in international finance but not often part of a course in monetary economics). It turned out that she had studied currency boards in a different course, and perhaps this was a way of showing me that I wasn’t out in the boonies. I suspect she knew more about currency boards than I did.

Something that comes up quite often is what student life is like in the U.S., and (sometimes) “Is it possible that I could study in the U.S.?” I try to be encouraging, but all the while knowing that there are a very large number of students here who would like to go to the States, that very few of them can even afford the air fare, and that some who would like to go there are incredibly talented. I know this situation of talented students having limited opportunities to study is a familiar one in developing countries, but it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. The other topic that is ubiquitous is, “why are things so bad in Indonesia?” The most recent variant of that is something relating to whether the Chinese will wipe all the other Asian economies off the face of the map. Indonesians tend to be very critical of themselves on economic matters.

By the time I write the next entry we will be in the month of Ramadan. This is a subject on the minds of everyone. It is striking just how much it affects life here. Already there are stories in the news about changes in television programming, about the entry into the larger cities of tens of thousands of beggars (I’m not making up that number), about how to adjust your work schedule, nutrition, and virtually everything else, in the coming days. Many places of hospitality and entertainment will be closed, many of which will be closed involuntarily. Apparently this will differ from city to city, and my impression is that Solo is not on the leading edge on this one. I was with American friends in Yogya and they said something about being jealous of the people who would be fasting (which seems to be everyone). While I am not jealous or envious I do feel like everyone is turning right while I’m going straight ahead. We went out to dinner with some serious Muslims and it appeared as if they were really looking forward to the period. One of the guys actually fasts regularly – two days a week. He does it more for meditative purposes than purely religious purposes. When I asked how long he’d been doing it (he’s in his late 20s) he told me about 15 years. Wah!