Uniform TreatmentIt seems that new blogs, in English, are surfacing in Indonesia on a daily basis. At last.
Indonesia Anonymus is
a group of Indonesians, ranting about our beloved country. We are not native english speakers (or writers, in this case), so please excuse our grammar. We call ourselves anonymus because we could not decide whose name should be put as a writer. This blog is a result of many people grumbling about many things in many ways.They are executives, with 'counterparts' offices' in Jl. Sudirman in Jakarta's expensive business district.
On Monday they wrote about their office boy, although they
prefer the term 'office assistant' because their duty mainly is to assist us in doing something that we are too stupid to do, such as fixing paper jam in photocopy machines or sending a fax without mistakenly sending it to Timbuktu. Don't laugh. It actually happened. Young Joni received scant respect from security personnel, dressed as he was and driving a motorcycle.
His last straw was when a group of security guards dragged him to an office at the basement and strip-searched him, suspecting him of concealing a weapon. They found nothing of course, but since that moment, Joni hated them. So our heroes conducted an experiment whereby one of them volunteered to visit 10 offices twice, once dressed as a messenger and once carrying his Nokia and dressed in a suit.
Well, I'm sure you can guess the results, but do read
the whole article and bookmark this blog.
Jakartass has visited many office towers in Jakarta and I cannot recall any unpleasantness. I won't comment on which building is the most thorough in terms of security, but I'm sure many expats have noted how easy it can be sometimes to enter with but a cursory check of our belongings, let alone a strip search.
I promised Anonymus a plug because they offer valued insights which are beyond me, and fellow.caucasian expats. We may object to being called a
bule and the constant "Hello misters", but, by the same token, we should surely object to positive discrimination.
Great stuff, guys (and gals?) and welcome to the blogosphere. I hope you like the plug I promised you.
Incidentally, the English is fine, and I'm not just saying that because you emailed ~ excuse me while I let them lustily blow my trumpet ~ "
A plug is much appreciated. Especially coming from Jakartass. It's an honour, really."
An honour? Thanks, but I'm more than pleased to think that my efforts as Jakartass are encouraging Indonesians to express themselves. This is my contribution to
reformasi.
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