ConcordAccording to my Webster's, my title refers to a harmonious agreement.
Well, by-and-large, or where 'Er Indoors is concerned it's buy-at-large, that's the Jakartass lifestyle in the haze that is Jakarta.
Today I received bits of news which give both rise to and the lie to my title.
I won't bore you with my news of an extra responsibility which will, hopefully, be translated into extra income.
However, information came which, if correct, will have dire consequences for all expats working here.
Our employer's bank, Bank Central Asia, has apparently decided that they cannot make electronic transfers into bank accounts owned by foreigners. This is not mentioned in their home page which says that business transfers are only a click away on a PC.
The convenient, secure and simple banking services that we offer through KlikBCA Bisnis is the suitable facility to help you manage your company financial management.Ignore the grammar and pause a while to think about the consequences.
I'm not a transient expat. I live here.
I get paid in rupiah by Indonesian bosses. My income supports my Indonesian family; we spend rupiah in the shops and on the buses, for rent and school fees and, most importantly, for beer.
In rupiah, I'm a millionaire several times over, but then Rp.1 million is only just under US$100. Not a lot, except for the urban poor whose minimum monthly wage is less than that.
Apparently, cash transfers are acceptable. Cheques, of course, would be OK too, but then there doesn't seem to be a clearing system so they aren't widely used here.
We're told that a new regulation was issued last week; whether this was a directive from Bank Indonesia or came from the BCA head office, we don't yet know. If fact, there is a lot we don't know.
Although no local bank seems to have mastered internet banking, I would have thought that electronic transfers were easier to monitor than wads of easily lost, or stolen, cash. That is assuming that the monitoring of expat finances were the aim of this new policy. If it is, then please start with the scammers, corruptors and embezzlers who plague this country and who are, invariably, Indonesian.
If this is a wind up, then kindly eff off. I've got rent and school fees due at the end of the week. If, however, there is some new banking procedure, then, and especially after having been named the
top financial institution brand, BCA should issue a press release I can use for a balanced post.
Comments on this post would be more than welcome. I feel a crusade coming on.
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