Expats in Indonesia

bambang

Expats are guests in the country and unless otherwise asked should keep quiet imo. After all if they continually go on and on about how their own country is better, while they themselves are making no meaningful contribution to Indonesia, the question will invariably arise "well why don't you live there?". Indonesia appreciates all the help it can get and many expat make an enormous contribution. Others live here because they want a certain lifestyle on the cheap or they are sexual predators and want to laze around exploiting Indonesia, drinking and doing pretty much nothing except complain at every opportunity. Sound familiar?

JUDY

Bombang, I understand where you are coming from, but I don't understand what comments were made which caused your response? Was this statement in regards to Miso's message regarding artists in Ubud??????

ryoshi

[quote]Others live here because they want a certain lifestyle on the cheap or they are sexual predators and want to laze around exploiting Indonesia, drinking and doing pretty much nothing except complain at every opportunity. Sound familiar?[/quote] Sound familiar? Not to me. It probably depends on the company you like to keep

chilli

I can understand bambang,, we all have sensitivities when others rubbish our home land.

motormouth

I am not a sexual predator and don't drink alcohol. I certainly never bang on about my birth country.I have nearly spent more years abroad than in my birth country. If I feel the need to point out the short coming I will.Hey, the worlds a global village, plenty of people travel and life in many countries.Stop the small town mentality...get with the program guys.So what if some people complain about the short comings of Indonesia, your a democracy now and this short of stuff is the norm

bambang

If you want a say, unasked, about how Indoensia is governed, become an Indonesian citizen. When you are a guest of Indonesia and if asked it would be polite at the very least to make constructive criticisms, not the sort of disrepectful and disparaging remarks that are all too common on this forum. Indonesian rules and regulations, its system of goverment and social institutions are not all useless because you believe the system is imperfect. Those are the opinions of an imperious expat.

gilbert de jong

@bambang... like you think about some expats and voicing those thoughts... some expats voice their thoughts about Indonesia... nothing wrong with that, and one certainly doesn't have to become Indonesian to say what one thinks. It would make the same kinda sense if one would suggest to you, try to be a expat somewhere, then you can have an opinion about other expats or the respective country you are then in. same as some Indonesians keep complaining about expats...sound familiar?

bambang

[quote]I could become one right now, but choose not to. No way.[/quote] Yes you wouldn't want to lose your pension would you? :lol:

bolli

[color=#008000]@bambang... like you think about some expats and voicing those thoughts... some expats voice their thoughts about Indonesia...[/color] exactly. :lol:

motormouth

Bambang, like Jonny Cool says, I too admire your passion. However, you seem to have a fixation that every expat has a pension. I would say I know @100 or so expats and all except one DON'T have a pension.I can only speak for Australia here, the aged pension in portable. This means that people eligible for the pension can have it paid if they lived abroad. So maybe you feel that is the reason people don't have Indonesian citizenship, either that or your mixing with a bunch of geriatrics :) :)

JohnnyCool

[quote]Indonesia appreciates all the help it can get and many expat make an enormous contribution.[/quote] You probably got [i]some[/i] of that right. Not sure about the "appreciates" part. [quote]Expats are guests in the country and unless otherwise asked should keep quiet imo.[/quote] Why is that, precisely? I think you left out one very important qualifier above, as in: "Expats are [b][u]paying[/u][/b] guests in the country... " Few of us expats are getting something for nothing by living here. We have to pay our bills, just like everybody else. Often, we have to pay more, because we're "guests". Visa fees, police reports, [i]banjar[/i] fees, endless "donations", and some of us become [i]defacto[/i] money lenders. If your government could actually get (more) people to pay their taxes, without siphoning them off at every twist and turn, the country [i]might[/i] have enough money to do what's needed. Just saw this: [quote]...become an Indonesian citizen...[/quote] You've got to be kidding! How about [b]you[/b] list the "benefits" of becoming an "Indonesian citizen"? I [i]could[/i] become one right now, but choose not to. No way. [quote]...Indonesian rules and regulations, its system of goverment and social institutions are not all useless...[/quote] Are you implying that some of them [b]are[/b] (useless)? If I were a patriotic Indonesian with internet access and enough time on my hands to write drivel on an Expat Forum trying to convince expats that all is well in this country, I'd be asking myself why do I bother? I'd be spending the energy asking pertinent questions of the officials who run this place and trying to get some meaningful answers. Whilst I admire and even respect your passion, I think you're barking up the wrong tree. :shock:

mimpimanis

I don't have a pension. I am not old enough and even when I am, I will not be entitled to any pension.

noodles

[quote=JohnnyCool]Few of us expats are getting something for nothing by living here. We have to pay our bills, just like everybody else. Often, we have to pay more, because we're "guests". Visa fees, police reports, [i]banjar[/i] fees, endless "donations", and some of us become [i]defacto[/i] money lenders.[/quote] As you correctly point out, all of expats look like CASHBOX, even so I quite enjoyed my stay here.

noodles

[quote=mimpimanis]I don't have a pension. I am not old enough and even when I am, I will not be entitled to any pension.[/quote] I see, you're considering apply to pension after retired, but you're so young! :lol:

mimpimanis

[quote]I see, you're considering apply to pension after retired, but you're so young! :lol:[/quote] No, I was saying I am not going to be entitled to a pension, even when I am of retirement age.

lumumba

Bumbang, you are out of order as now and in the past and [color=#FF0040]you know very well what I mean[/color]. You don't have to be an Indonesians to speak your mind, we all pay tax and the one on pension still bringing money into the country and that Indonesia could do without some of the expatriate it is another bull sh**, and you know very well what I'm talking about since it is something you have been writing at the beginning of 2009 and I have also told you what you could do with all your statements. You also wrote: [quote]Yes you wouldn't want to lose your pension would you? [/quote] My answer is: :P :P :P :P :P :P forever You came back into this forum after a long absence and sneak in very quietly with no trouble but what the all saying: The leopard changes his hair but not his spots.

JohnnyCool

[b]bambang[/b] doesn't let go, once he thinks he's got a bite in. I said: [quote]I could become one right now, {[i]an Indonesian citizen[/i]}, but choose not to. No way.[/quote] Hardly knowing the difference between shit and clay, so to speak, his retort was: [quote]Yes you wouldn't want to lose your pension would you?[/quote] Wrong! I wouldn't want to become an "Indonesian" like you. What else can you show me/us? At the end of the day, (much as I dislike that phrase), I'm forever amazed that people with an IQ somewhere between 70 and 80 can both type [b]and[/b] have internet access. All power to them, I say. If that's the case here, (with [b]bambang[/b]), he's done "well", pissing people off left, right and centre. Nobody should be [i]too[/i] surprised. Way to go, [b]Mr b[/b] - I think not. Calm down a bit and re-channel your energy to where it matters. Remember when one of the "Bali bombers", on death row, got busted for having a laptop computer in prison, with an internet connection? Maintaining a website or contributing to blogs? Personally, I'm impressed with [i]some [/i]of the gains "Indonesia" has managed to achieve since the overthrow of Pak Suharto. On the other hand, I'm not convinced that much of it is more than some kind of continuing shadow play. Whatever it is, it's up to the Indonesian people to figure out for themselves. "Two steps forward, three steps backwards" seems to be the current state of play. I sincerely wish the very best of success for Indonesia's policy makers and government in navigating this country to the place it could and should be. In the meantime... [i]Don't cry for me, Indonesia.[/i] :?:

gilbert de jong

100% yep, on all of the above by JC :) .