Blog Post: Indonesia
(firstly, I could not format the pictures, they are all after the corresponding paragraph)
So, the country I have chosen is a country that I go to every year. This country is the origination of my parent’s heritage. The only reason I ended up in the Down Under is that my parents were grateful enough to realise that my education is vital. Just a bit of background knowledge right there for you. The country is INDONESIA. Yes, a country that is a neighbouring country of Australia, along with Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore.
As it might be known, the most common city that Perth people have probably have gone to is Bali, as it is only 3.75 hours away. Not far. What you might find common in Bali is that Westerners are very common and are usually welcomed with open arms. Of course, there is that rare exception Westerners are bad people and start doing bad things like killing others or even attempting drug trafficking. And if you do happen to be involved in either of those (please don’t be, you all are good people…right?) is that capital punishment is still available in Indonesia. For those people who don’t know what that is, it’s just being executed. Unfortunate, yes, but it’s for the very grave and BAD crimes out there. Do not get involved at all.
As that escalated quickly to execution, what I wanted to explain is the traditional music available in East Java and Bali is something called ‘Gamelan.’ It is an ensemble mainly made up of percussion instruments. E.g. metallophones played by mallets, set of hand-played drums called ‘Kendhang.’
Now, to politics. The President at this current time happens to be President Joko Widodo (yeah, laugh all you want, he’s better than President Trump. No surprise there.). As Indonesia has a large population of 237, 641, 326 people (compared to like Australia 23.13m, it’s large) the education is the 4th world’s largest with 55m students and 3m teachers. That’s a lot for a President to handle. And you thought our Prime Minister had it hard…
FOOD! Food is what keeps the world spinning (figuratively) because we all need food, food needs us. What does the country of Indonesia get in the store for us? We got them ‘Nasi Goreng’ (fried rice for them Westerners) where it’s like…fried rice with fried egg. And ‘Satay’ which can come in lamb or chicken. At least those are the ones I prefer most. They are just pieces of chicken/lamb stuck on a thin wooden skewer and cooked over hot coals (or anything that can produce decent heat). If you have not tried this with peanut sauce…try it. Another dish native to Indonesia is ‘Rendang.’ Popular especially in West Sumatra, it’s like a beef curry with coconut sauce, herbs and…more. The final dish I will bring up (as there are many more) is ‘Mie Goreng.’ You can find these on the roadside stall but be warned! They may not temporarily clean. Only eat if you know you can handle the consequences or have a tough stomach. Or you're just hungry. So, Mie Goreng is just fried egg noodles, with stir-fried vegetables mixed along in it. Yummy…
What about the religious status in Indonesia? It is dominantly 87.2% Islam over there, thus making it the largest Islamic population in the world (225m Muslims). Before all you racist freaks think of terrorism, remember that ISLAM IS NOT THE CAUSE OF TERRORISM! Think about this, if there are so many Muslims there, why haven’t been any recent terrorist attacks? And there is a significant increase in population...Think about that too.
Now that’s out of my system, here are some social etiquettes in Indonesia that the general person would not be aware of:
- · Always use the right hand for everything (e.g. passing etc.)
- · Try to avoid confrontation (do it in private areas, as Indonesians are easily embarrassed)
- · When entering mosques (if you happen to), always wear long pants. More rules apply to women and,
- · Seatbelts are not commonly worn. You will still be pulled over, but you will find that it is not common. So don’t bother.
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