begonia
Member
It is funny Indonesia doesn´t celebrate Labour Day, but of course there is nothing to celebrate, because they have not rights, they work for little money and try to survive with that.
I will always remember a friend a few years ago was asking me
How do you think a Balinese person working in a restaurant or in a villa can feel when some clients spend in one night for eating or drinking as much as this person salary per a month????
How a person working in a Villa can feel when somebody pay 100-200$ per one night and he/she is getting between 70-100$ per a month, for working if they are lucky 6 and a half days per a week, 44 hours per a week, with not security social, benefits and beside has only 15 days holiday per a year and in the most of the cases of Balinese people they cannot have any, because they will use them for ceremonies, they never has a proper holiday or rest time.
I just admire them for been able to manage don´t have angry and hate in their hearts.
I wish I could copy with this as they do, after all I am one of the “lucky” ones (been a foreigner and an expat and having much much money that they have) but sometimes for me it is hard to accept it.
20 years ago many people visiting Bali stay in home stays, pay very little and didn´t show too much the differences, even the foreigners who settle in Bali made simple houses and houses made from natural materials, these days the differences between foreigners, expat and local people on the most of the cases are too big, the most of balines people are struggle to have even a “normal” BALINESE life…………..pay the high school for their children (the primary school is free), pay hospitals if somebody get sick (this is usually the worst), pay some decent food……………they can live with this salaries as well, because the most of them live together in one Balinese compound and support each other, not way to have their own house like in our western countries.
They can “live” with these salaries because they live a traditional Balinese life, if they would live like western countries these days they could not afford it.
In my opinion here in Bali and I guess all over Indonesia, the salaries are miserable!!!
When I go to Matahari to look for trousers for my husband, I just wonder who can spend 300.000 Rp in a trouser, not many Balinese can do it, what they feel looking at these prices?????? Of course, they probably think that is for rich people and for tamu.
I grown up in a small city where there was not much differences between the citizens, I grow up in a workers neighborhood but I remember have the feeling like the rich people on the town lived on the city centre, they probably have flats 400 mts square bigger than ours and go to private schools but it was ok, not really much differences, at least not the ones made me feel really bad, I bought Lois trousers and they bought Lewis Strauss but the differences were not that obvious because the most of the people on the city was from the medium class like me.
Coming from a social work background and seeing “poverty” in Bali very often, makes me to feel bad and I am sadly very sensitive to all these things, since I was small I never copy very well with the big differences between rich and poor people (I went to a nuns catholic school with a grant), I am the kind of person who is ashamed to know there is continents like Africa on the earth…….
Here I think there is a big difference between how local people live and spend money and tourists or expats lives or spend money.
We are introducing to Bali capitalism, consumism, materialism and globalization but the salaries here are like primitive, are adapt only to try to survive and cover the most basic things and keep a traditional Balinese life.
The majority of them has not one rupiah on the bank and the only chance to travel abroad could be to go to work in a cruise!!!
I just bough yesterday a new handphone and it cost me 550.000 Rp, it is hard to believe that this is the half of salary of many many Balinese people on this island.
Can you believe to use half of your month salary in Australia, Europe or USA to buy a handphone????????
Can you believe to use one month of your salary in Australia, Europe or USA
to pay a mattress for your bed???????????
Can you believe to use your salary of 15 month in Australia, Europe or USA to pay a motorbike????????????
Of course not way to afford to buy a house, land, eat in a restaurant, going on holiday and traveling………..
The most of the salaries of these people are only enough to pay food, the school of their children, petrol for their motorbikes, ceremonies and pay the credits they may have, because very often they have to borrow money from people or their banjar.
Sorry to express all this but for me it is hard sometimes to copy with seeing the two worlds, to go to the villages and enter to the houses of Balinese people and to see foreigners making villas and more villas, and look how much things we can afford and they cannot, the most of the people I see compare to foreigners visiting Bali or expat living in Bali, are very poor.
One of the things I hate these days, it is to see luxury villas built up inside of a Balinese banjar, or next to or on the back of a normal traditional Balinese house………….
But probably it is only me the one who has the problem and I have to deal and copy with these feelings............
I will always remember a friend a few years ago was asking me
How do you think a Balinese person working in a restaurant or in a villa can feel when some clients spend in one night for eating or drinking as much as this person salary per a month????
How a person working in a Villa can feel when somebody pay 100-200$ per one night and he/she is getting between 70-100$ per a month, for working if they are lucky 6 and a half days per a week, 44 hours per a week, with not security social, benefits and beside has only 15 days holiday per a year and in the most of the cases of Balinese people they cannot have any, because they will use them for ceremonies, they never has a proper holiday or rest time.
I just admire them for been able to manage don´t have angry and hate in their hearts.
I wish I could copy with this as they do, after all I am one of the “lucky” ones (been a foreigner and an expat and having much much money that they have) but sometimes for me it is hard to accept it.
20 years ago many people visiting Bali stay in home stays, pay very little and didn´t show too much the differences, even the foreigners who settle in Bali made simple houses and houses made from natural materials, these days the differences between foreigners, expat and local people on the most of the cases are too big, the most of balines people are struggle to have even a “normal” BALINESE life…………..pay the high school for their children (the primary school is free), pay hospitals if somebody get sick (this is usually the worst), pay some decent food……………they can live with this salaries as well, because the most of them live together in one Balinese compound and support each other, not way to have their own house like in our western countries.
They can “live” with these salaries because they live a traditional Balinese life, if they would live like western countries these days they could not afford it.
In my opinion here in Bali and I guess all over Indonesia, the salaries are miserable!!!
When I go to Matahari to look for trousers for my husband, I just wonder who can spend 300.000 Rp in a trouser, not many Balinese can do it, what they feel looking at these prices?????? Of course, they probably think that is for rich people and for tamu.
I grown up in a small city where there was not much differences between the citizens, I grow up in a workers neighborhood but I remember have the feeling like the rich people on the town lived on the city centre, they probably have flats 400 mts square bigger than ours and go to private schools but it was ok, not really much differences, at least not the ones made me feel really bad, I bought Lois trousers and they bought Lewis Strauss but the differences were not that obvious because the most of the people on the city was from the medium class like me.
Coming from a social work background and seeing “poverty” in Bali very often, makes me to feel bad and I am sadly very sensitive to all these things, since I was small I never copy very well with the big differences between rich and poor people (I went to a nuns catholic school with a grant), I am the kind of person who is ashamed to know there is continents like Africa on the earth…….
Here I think there is a big difference between how local people live and spend money and tourists or expats lives or spend money.
We are introducing to Bali capitalism, consumism, materialism and globalization but the salaries here are like primitive, are adapt only to try to survive and cover the most basic things and keep a traditional Balinese life.
The majority of them has not one rupiah on the bank and the only chance to travel abroad could be to go to work in a cruise!!!
I just bough yesterday a new handphone and it cost me 550.000 Rp, it is hard to believe that this is the half of salary of many many Balinese people on this island.
Can you believe to use half of your month salary in Australia, Europe or USA to buy a handphone????????
Can you believe to use one month of your salary in Australia, Europe or USA
to pay a mattress for your bed???????????
Can you believe to use your salary of 15 month in Australia, Europe or USA to pay a motorbike????????????
Of course not way to afford to buy a house, land, eat in a restaurant, going on holiday and traveling………..
The most of the salaries of these people are only enough to pay food, the school of their children, petrol for their motorbikes, ceremonies and pay the credits they may have, because very often they have to borrow money from people or their banjar.
Sorry to express all this but for me it is hard sometimes to copy with seeing the two worlds, to go to the villages and enter to the houses of Balinese people and to see foreigners making villas and more villas, and look how much things we can afford and they cannot, the most of the people I see compare to foreigners visiting Bali or expat living in Bali, are very poor.
One of the things I hate these days, it is to see luxury villas built up inside of a Balinese banjar, or next to or on the back of a normal traditional Balinese house………….
But probably it is only me the one who has the problem and I have to deal and copy with these feelings............
