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Published: July 29th 2008
Airport Food
I wanted to eat before getting on the plane. This is one of the displays of shrimp with fried rice. It is plasteic.First picture a 7 year old in Papua walking 5 hours to school and then 5 hours home. Motivated by the fact that her parents couldn't afford the medicine they needed to recover from illness and she dreamed of being a doctor. This is where the story begins.
I must warn you. This entry is quite wordy to say the least. It really isn't even very entertaining. It is however a small window into some of the things I have learned about this country. Read at your own risk...I highly suggest you partake of some caffinated libations while reading....
It has been days of basking in the sun, surfing, and hanging out with a couple of local guys. Not too local actually, they are from Java but now live here in Bali. They have had many interesting insights about Bali and the Balinese people. One is here working as an architect as he was one of the fortunate few to get a college education. His name is Yoza, he is 28 years old and one of the very few people that age to not be married. It seems 30 is the oldest one can be without becoming a complete social outcast. Being educated he could actually speak very intelligently about the conditions in Indonesia in terms of politics, education, and lifestyle. He had much to offer on Indonesia as a nation. He has only lived in Bali for about 6 months designing villas for foreign nationals. His family remains in Jave where his mother is a doctor and his father's profession remains unmentioned. He is the only Christian I have met.
My other new friend is works on the beach renting out beach chairs and surfboards. He has done so for about 3 years and now lives in Bali. His father "owns" a section of the beach where he runs the family business. He grew up in Java where both of his parents worked in some sort of factory finishing furniture for about 5000 Rupiah a day (about 50 cents). He never had the opportunity to go to university or finish high school as both were out of reach for his families budget...go figure. About 15 years ago, when Bali began to have their tourist boom, they moved here. Mis mother, grandmother, aunt got permits to give massages on the beach, the very first to do so. From there they were able to build what is a succesful business by Indonesian standards. A beach chair is anywhere between 10K and 30K for the day and surfboards between 30k and 100k a day. One is the newcomer price and the other a 'friend' price. It may be that I just severely overpaid my first day and after a few days he took pitty on me (probably not given the view of tourists). He practices the Rasta religion without the necessary "natural ingredient" often associated with the lifestyle as the laws here are strict to say the least.
Tourists here in Bali are the lifeblood of the region. Admitedly, many come here for the beach and bars and little else. Finding the true Balinese culture and way of life is a difficult. Even in Ubud, the so called cultural mecca, things like traditional dances and music are performed on a nightly baises for the bennefit of tourists. These were once only performed during important religious ceremonies and celebrations. Imagine Thanksgiving dinner every day or the 365 candles on the Menorah. Strange thought. Locals are paid for there jobs in the entertainment industry,and according to the Javanese, quite well. One taxi driver did express some remorse about the lack of authenticity left here. Mind you he also addmited that without this industry he would not be able to send his children to school and would struggle to feed his family.
Bali being a predominantly Hindu island has a strange effect on the place. The Javanese that I have met clearly feel some resentment to the lifestyles they live. This is not due to religion exclusively as neither of the 2 are Muslim which 90% of Indonesia is. They feel the Balinese spend too much money on celebrations and should invest in infrastructure more and education. The Balinese according to them rely on the federal government for the funds. Coming from Java, where the tourist industry barely makes a blip on the radar in comparison, this may be understandable as they NEED thefederal funding even more as the population there is much higher. People here don't pay taxes. They feel the government doesn't care about them and the money would only end up in someones pocket. All of this is severely confounded by the level of corruption in the government. In the past 8 years the country has had 5 presidnts. Before that they had the same one for 32 years, the second longest term in the history of democracy! I asked about term limits. Apparently they usd to exist, right up until the 32 yr leader decided to eliminate them. Some of the recent prisidents have tried to do good for the country. By good I mean provide free schools and health care. Two of these politicians in the past 8 years have been impeached by the senate. The reason of course is bacause they were try to perform some much needed house cleaning and angered the majority of the corrupt senate. Huong informed me that Bali is the 5th most corrupt nation in the world. I have no idea where he got this figure but it didn't seem to matter as I felt that if that is the perception of the highly educated than the less educated must think so even more and base their decisions on this fact. I was shocked to hear that figure and he told me that this was really good because 2 years ago they were number 3! Foreign private and governmental investment is near impossible here as no country wants anything to do with the level of corruption.
Education, always one of the things I ask most about. All people must pay to send there kid to school. Only the middle-class can afford to do so. Fees for tuition, books, and uniforms ranges between 1,000,000 Rp and 5,000,000 Rp depending where you live. Some of this money also goes towards administrative fees and the like. True this is only $100-$500 dollars a year. But consider, my lunch roday, eating local food served from the back of a moped at the beach, cost 5,000 Rp (and that is the tourist price)! Ishan pays 210,000Rp a month to rent a room, he pays no more than 20K-25K a day for food. This brings a monthly budget for basic needs to 810,000 Rp a month. That is 90 US dollars. Sorry for doing all the math for you but there are kids reading this I think.... That means that to go to high school for 1 year you must save almost 6 months of living expenses. By US standards, how much would this be? I know my kids wouldn't be attending school!
The obvious question is why? Why is it so expensive? Why isn't there free education? How can people afford it? Why doesn't the government take more of interest in educating the masses? Upon asking this last question the answer became clear. Ishan and Huan answered it anyway. If the people remain uneducated and ignorant to the ways of the country then they will not be able to resist or fight the corruption. They cannot read the papers to hear what happens. They can't organize as they must service jobs just to feed their kids. Don't forget, to work as a server in a restaraunt is a great job here! I by no means intend to look down upon those in the service industry, but if that is as good as it gets, your hope and dream of escaping poverty, it is a sad day. This is all assuming that you are not a farmer. If you are, there is no escape for you. As the child of a farmer, you will do exactly what your parents do. Manually working the rice fields is by no means glamorous.
University costs around 30,000,000 Rp a year (about $300). This is simply impossible for many to pay. 10 years ago maybe 1 in 1000 people went to university. The number has improved greatly and is now 1 in 100. This is 3 years salary for someone working a good beach chair business! Makes even the Ivy league and private universities seem cheap.
As for the teachers....my favorite part! 1 school must service 10 smaller islands. The teacher begins their day by picking up all the students. This hpwever requires a boat. Sometimes the government provides one but often not. The teacher must negotiate with local fishermen to charter a boat at their own expense, or try to get donations from the families. Now many fisheren would do it for free as they fish only during the night, but petrol(gasoline) aint free and someone has to pey for it. After providing a morning meal for the students the teaching begins. By noon time many schools dismiss as it is simply too hot to be in a classroom. Time to take all the kids home! All of this for a whopping 200,000 Rp a month, just over $20!
As I live the good life here courtesy of Bank of America and Citibank, I feel it is also worth mentioning that credit cards and loans are near impossible to get. You must have a bank job or a government job to be eligible. This brings us back to foreigners and ex-pats buying up all of the most valuable land and developing it for their own benefit. There is a 21% tax on hotels and restaraunts for tourists. This is what the government considers reasonably building the economy. No one owning land on the beach can get a loan to build and make a living and in turn buildding a solid base for the economy. Most of the money leaves the country, the government officials collect their bribes, the government budget lives on the 21%, and the people......
So now the end of the story. That 7 yo in Papua we began with, is now in high school. Her dream is still alive. And somehow, the people of Indonesia still have hope.
Sometimes it is good to be an American!
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connie.valenti@suf.state.ma.us
non-member comment
hello again
I bet you miss MS.Stephanie....it was so good to see her, we all miss you very much. THink of you everyday. xo aunty connie