Like a 'Bule' in a China Shop - What Indonesian's REALLY Think About the West
I have been running Cross Cultural workshops and working as a cross-cultural / cross-linguistic buffer in Asia for over 12 years now. Growing up in a mixed up cultural background and spending time constantly working between different cultural groups, I feel that over the years, the contrast between different cultures working and living together in Asia has become not as crisp as it was when I first started. I get so used to jumping between languages and cultures in my professional and personal lives, that the ‘mind set shift’ becomes automatic to the point that I often don’t realise what the ‘shifts’ are.
In a few weeks I will be running a Cross Cultural / Cross Linguistic workshop for large western company that will be sending many expats into work with and manage several thousand Indonesians. I thought it would be a good opportunity to put a survey out to my networks in Indonesia and hear from the horse’s mouth what their CURRENT opinions are on themselves, their own country’s culture, languages and how they view westerners in their country.
If you are Indonesian and still haven’t shared your thoughts with me by filling out the survey, there’s good news!… I will be leaving the survey open indefinitely. You can access it here: http://stujay.com/indonesian-culture-survey/ .
Questions
Here is a list of the questions asked in the survey:
| **No.** | **English** | **Bahasa Indonesia** |
| **1** | What part of Indonesia are you from? | Di indonesia, anda berasal dari daerah mana? |
| **2** | Where do you live (city) now? | Anda tinggal di mana (kota) sekarang? |
| **3** | What religion are you? | Agama anda apa? |
| **4** | Aside from Bahasa Indonesia, can you also speak any other local Indonesian languages? | Selain bahasa Indonesia, apakah anda bisa bahasa daerah seperti sunda, jawa, dll? |
| **5** | Do you still use the local languages that you can speak? If so, where / when? | Apakah anda masih menggunakan bahasa daerah yang anda kuasai tersebut? Kalau iya, dimana anda biasanya menggunakan bahasa tersebut? |
| **6** | In your honest opinion, what does the term ‘bule’ mean to you? (both positive and negative meanings) | Menurut pendapat jujur anda, apa artinya istilah ‘bule’ bagi anda, baik positif maupun negatif? |
| **7** | Please list 3 principles of Indonesian culture that you would consider important – e.g. ‘gotong royong’ | Tolong sebutkan 3 prinsip budaya Indonesia yg penting bagi anda, contohnya gotong royong. |
| **8** | In your opinion, what do foreigners need to understand about Indonesia and Indonesian when working in Indonesia? | Menurut anda, apa yang diperlukan oleh orang dari luar negeri untuk mengerti tentang negara indonesia dan warga negaranya ketika bekerja di indonesia? |
| **9** | How do you feel about foreign men dating Indonesian women? (without the intent of marrying them). | Bagaimana perasaan anda tentang laki-laki bule yang berpacaran (dan tidak mempunyai tujuan untuk menikah) dengan perempuan indonesia? |
| **10** | How do you feel about cross-cultural / cross-religious relationships? Would you allow your child marry a foreigner or someone of a different religion? | Bagaimana perasaan anda tentang hubungan lintas budaya/agama? Apakah anda akan memperbolehkan anak anda menikah dgn orang asing atau orang yang berbeda agama? |
| **11** | From the foreigners in Indonesia that you either know or have observed, how would you rate foreigners living in Indonesia’s overall understanding of Indonesian culture
(Don’t understand at all, Insufficient Understanding, Sufficient Understanding, Extreme Understnding) | Diantara orang-orang asing yang anda ketahui dan/atau telah anda perhatikan di indonesia, berapa anda akan beri nilai untuk pengertian dan kepekaan mereka terhadap kebudayaan indonesia ?
(Sama Sekali Tidak Mengerti, Kurang Mengerti, Cukup Mengerti, Sangat Mengerti) |
Speaking Regional Languages
I’ve found from the responses to the survey, the situation in regard to regional languages is slightly different to the situation in Thailand. In Thailand, especially in Bangkok, there is a certain stigma that’s attached to people speaking non-central Thai. The main dialect regions in Thailand are Northern, Isaan (Northeast), Central and Southern. There are many shades in each of these and some are thought to sound more refined than others. I have even seen people on the skytrain, subway, restaurants and other places with ‘people’ in downtown Bangkok receive a call on their mobile phone only to quickly hang-up on the caller saying something to the extent of ‘I’ll call you back soon’ in their local dialect trying not to be heard. I find this happen mostly with people who speak Isaan.
From the results from the Indonesian survey, I get the feeling that people are a lot more proud to use their local languages in public, as long as they are with people who speak the same language /dialect. One of the reasons that people would choose to switch to standard Bahasa Indonesia would be to release them from the hierarchical bonds that languages like Balinese, Javanese and Sunda put on them. Javanese for example has several levels of speech – Krama (High), Krama Inggil (High Krama), Krama Andhap (Low Krama), Madya (Middle), Ngoko (Low). In any interaction in Javanese, someone would have to have a full grasp on the nuances of all these registers of speech / vocabulary to be able to competently communicate in a respectable / appropriate manner. Speaking in Bahasa Indonesia to a great extent strips away many of those levels and gives a ‘vanilla flavoured’ language where people’s statuses are to a good extent flattened (though not to the extent of English).
Many of the responders mentioned that their level of their local language isn’t where they would like it to be. Many who speak Javanese speak mainly in the low level and are embarrassed of their lack of ability. Using standard Bahasa Indonesia is a safe alternative for them.
‘Bahasa Indonesia’ or ‘Indonesian’- Not just ‘Bahasa’
While we’re on the point of ‘Bahasa Indonesia’, I’d like to address a pet gripe of mine. Many of my clients will send me an email or call me up and ask if I’m free to do a job in ‘Bahasa’. ‘Bahasa’ is a Sanskrit based word – भाषा ‘Bhasha’ that just means ‘language’. So ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ mean ‘Indonesian Language’. The same word is used in many other languages like Thai ภาษาไทย ‘Phasa Thai’. If you’re going to use the term Bahasa when speaking English, say ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ or ‘Bahasa Melayu’ etc … otherwise it’s just like saying “Are you free to do a job in ‘language’?”
Bule… Bule Bule Bule
As you travel throughout Asia, you’ll find that most countries have their own ‘endearing’ term for ‘westerners’. In Hong Kong it’s 鬼佬 ‘Gwai’Lo’, in Mandarin it’s 老外 ‘lao wai’, in Japanese it’s 外人 ‘gai jin’, Tagalog it’s ‘puti’, Thai is ฝรั่ง ‘Farang’, Malay it’s ‘Mat Salleh’ and in Indonesian it’s BULE (pronounced ‘boo-leh’).
I often read forums from all these countries in both English and in the local languages and the feelings vary. Some will say that these are derogatory terms for foreigners, some will say that they’re neutral and others will say that they’re terms of endearment. I’ll let you decide. Most of the responses were in Bahasa Indonesia, so I have translated all the responses and deleted any repetition. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether or not you’d like to be considered a ‘bule’.
| ### Positive | ### Negative |
| neutral culture | selfish |
| more developed | look down on other cultures |
| westerner | arrogant |
| open minded | proud |
| long pointy nose | albino – pigment deficiency |
| blue eyes | don’t like to learn language or culture of host country |
| good looking | doesn’t like washing |
| speaks English | dirty |
| likes to be practical | smells |
| rich | has free sex |
| smart | afraid of commitment to marriage |
| live for the future | atheist |
| egotistical | |
| only eats bland food | |
| cannot eat chilli / hot and spicy food | |
| alcoholic | |
| refuse to try and understand Indonesian culture | |
| Has bad taste in women – can’t tell a ‘good looking’ or ‘good’ woman from a ‘less than good’ one | |
| don’t try to see things through the eyes of Indonesians | |
| dress inappropriately | |
| too much emphasis on personal privacy | |
| don’t respect the past |
Core Indonesian Values
Even though I asked for 3 of the core values that they thought were most important, many of the respondents gave more than 3. The answers all hovered around similar points. It would seem that knowing the appropriate protocols is paramount. The other major concept to embrace is that of family and society / the workplace as an extended family. We will see in a later question that part of showing respect and getting into the ‘culture’ and showing that you ‘care’ is learning how to address people properly. Not just by their name, but by the kinship title that an Indonesian version of you would address them in in Indonesia.
Answers were very long and descriptive here. In the following chart, I’ve translated the answers and categorized them under just a few major headings. From right across the board, nearly everyone unanimously said that learning the Indonesian language and learning about Indonesian culture is THE most important thing for foreigners to do when working in Indonesia. Not just learn about the culture, but to implement what was learned too.
Many foreigners may think that the linguistic side isn’t important and that they are there just to do business. The fact is though, in order to do business well, the foreigners need to work with and motivate local teams. To truly do that effectively, language and being able to speak to and understand the heart of the people is a vital ingredient.
Tidak Tahu Unggah Ungguh
How do you feel about foreign men dating Indonesian women? (without the intent of marrying them).
The answer to this one was divided, though still weighted about 70% towards the ‘do not approve’ answer. The main difference was that from the ‘do not approve’ group, about a third of those people did not approve, but thought that it was up to the individual’s involved. Everyone is different, so if the girl makes a decision to do that, it’s her decision.
The majority however did not like the idea of western men dating Indonesian women without the intent of marrying them and said that it just reinforced the negative connotations of ‘bule’. That is that they are dirty, immoral, non God fearing people that are just after free sex and to take advantage of people.
How do you feel about cross-cultural / cross-religious relationships? Would you allow your child marry a foreigner or someone of a different religion?
The answers here were varied, though the majority of respondents when it came down to it did not approve of people marrying across cultures and especially not across religions.
I have translated 3 responses below to show the gradient of opinions.
Sample 1
How Well do Foreigners Understand Indonesia?
The final question was to get a general picture of how Indonesians perceive foreigners living in Indonesia:
**From the foreigners in Indonesia that you either know or have observed, how would you rate foreigners living in Indonesia’s overall understanding of Indonesian culture
**
(Don’t understand at all, Insufficient Understanding, Sufficient Understanding, Extreme Understnding)
The results are as follows:
Take the Survey! (If you’re Indonesian)
At the time of writing this article, there have been a total of 51 respondents. I will be leaving the survey form open indefinitely and encourage all Indonesians out there to share your own views. Do you agree with these findings? Do you disagree? Let me know what you think.
You can access the survey on a separate page here:
