What Keeps People In Indonesia?

[Daniel50]

Why do people choose to live in Indonesia? Work, family or neither of these? What are some things people enjoy about Indonesia (or your small slice of Indonesia)?

 

[fastpitch17]

The cost of living is a lot less.

 

[El_Goretto]

A mix of everything for me... Family, adventure, and after five years I guess habit as well. Can't be f'ed moving elsewhere!

Also, now that I have my kitap, I'm gonna use it, alright.

I'll finish by saying that Indonesia is not an easy country to live in and presents a certain challenge to master which I haven't yet. I guess that plays a role too.

 

[waarmstrong]

I enjoy my leisurely drives around Jakarta.

 

[sumyunggai]

Hmm

weather is good
family
more opportunities in some ways (things are cheaper and unregulated, and a lot of stuff is so shoddy if you want you can do a better job, even if you'd be third-rate at home)
lower cost of living

 

[Bad_azz]

I love the fact that we can still take risks here, without the nanny state stepping in and insisting things are done by the book.
I also love the fact that where things are regulated 99% ofthe population ignore said regulations & just do their own thing, yet manage to live pretty harmoniously.

I have a love hate relationship with the Hello Misterrrrr/Bule shouts in the streets- I guess it depends on what kind of day I'm having.
I'm often amused by the irregularities and the craziness of kampung life. Kids out walking the goats much as UK peeps would be out walking the dog. I love that we get alsorts of oddbod creatures visiting the garden- in particular the green tree dragons & Atlas moths. Not so much a fan of any of the snakes or tarantulas.
Goats, washing machines, fridges, gawd alone knows what stacked on scooters- the How much can we pile on a scooter mentality- I love it.
Village life is very different to the cities :
Not that long back I actually saw police doing proper police-y things as a neghbour has been digging out foundations & it seems there was some conflict over the land ownership, so the cops had to turn up in force to resolve it. I love that such an occurence is a rarity and a big deal - in the UK 1 street Bobby might have turned up & a few clerks, but here we got 3 jeeps full of em. Just to tell the diggers to stop until the court sorted it out.
Yet some guy comes sneaking round at night thieving chickens/goats and not one cop to be seen, but the entire village is awake running round the streets trying to find the thief. Luckily for him he got away through the casava field.

& I stay because I love the place & that I am also married to an Indonesian guy & feel that it is my home.
BUT, I would not have married him or stayed on if I wasn't enchanted by the place first.

 

[Puspawarna]

On a day-to-day basis, the thing that keeps us in Jakarta is work (or at the moment just my husband's work, since I quit my job and now have dependent status on his visa). But since both of us keep taking job after job here in Indonesia when we could have chosen to move away, it's more than that. (We also returned to Indonesia twice after moving away to Mozambique and Egypt.)

For all its flaws, Jakarta is "home" to us, with just the right blend of exotic and familiar to make it interesting without being overwhelming. It's the best place for me to study gamelan, living is pretty easy if you are lucky enough to get a full expat package, people are nice, the food is tasty, and while Jakarta itself is a big dirty city, it's a great jumping off point for other destinations (I'm writing this from Yogyakarta, where I spent the last three days).

 

[Minuteman]

Summer time all the time.

Cops don't bother me.

Attractive ladies.

 

[dafluff]

In no particular order:

Family connections
Weather
Food
More relaxed lifestyle (at least in some aspects)

 

[Anglian]

Well it's not the weather as it's pissing down at the moment but basically family,friends, my house and garden, wouldn't have one like that in England, it's a lot cheaper and I like the people, the religious and political nonsense goes straight over my head

 

[sumyunggai]

I have a love hate relationship with the Hello Misterrrrr/Bule shouts in the streets- I guess it depends on what kind of day I'm having.
I'm often amused by the irregularities and the craziness of kampung life. Kids out walking the goats much as UK peeps would be out walking the dog.

Yes this can be nice.

Let me describe a Sunday I spent:

Ride my bike down totally unmapped track. Talk to some random people walking their cows. 'Can you get through this way?', I ask. 'No not really'. Check satellite map, looks like I can. Cycle a bit further, ford the river carrying my bike, then walk up steps. Hear motorcycle noises in the background. Turns out it's my wife's uncle and some other people riding their cross motorbikes. He: 'Are you on your own?' Me: 'Yes'. He frowns slightly. I go the other way from them.

Continue on for a while down muddy track and clamber up another part. Cycle on till I come to village (spotted on Google Maps). Lots of pointing and 'hello mister' from locals. Make it to junction, find a motorcycle washing place. Get my bike washed, sit down, some random man is there, he tells me his life story, I share mine, I get bored and go over to look at my bike which is still being washed. Small girl around 3 years old is helping (older brother) to wash the bike and looks very pleased with herself. She's super cute. I like to see the free range children in Indonesia, they are not scared of strangers. Pay 5,000 IDR for spotlessly clean bike.

Cycle on along another unsurfaced road, see kingfishers, monkeys. Reach another village. More loud comments from passers-by, children waving, etc. Eventually reach the main road after a minor wrong turn (cue comments about 'lost bule'). Cycle to warung to eat. Cycle back home. Upload unmapped roads to internet. Cukup tenang.

OK I could ride my bike anywhere, but you don't in England get the conversations with random strangers, the hundred passing children who are genuinely pleased to have a bule to wave at, nor the sense you are doing something uncharted. And in the kampung at least, people are not striving to pay a mortgage, angry, in a hurry, etc. People aren't really trying to make a mark but it seems somehow that this makes life more meaningful, not less so.

 

[Nasigan]

what keep me here ? my Indonesian wife, and a little bit of things said before.
it's never cold here, the cheaper cost of living.
I agree with BA when she writes about most of the people ignore regulations and do there own thing and still manage to live pretty harmoniously, wich offcourse can be dangerous in the traffic where most of the people follow there own rules....
I build nine years ago my own house with a far away view on the mountains a view that I enjoy every day and that I never can have in my home country, the same for the leisurely drives on my motorbike on the mountain roads around here.
our dogs and other animals.
yes a lot of things keep me/us here and there are a lot of negative things to, but as long as there is more positive than negative we stay here.

 

[rabbit_39]

Work and potential business. I'm not rich enough to be able to enjoy living in Indonesia. And my current need to earn money preclude me from living away from Jakarta. Given the opportunity past what is happening with my plans in the next 18 months, I will probably be looking at moving out.

 

[Daniel50]

Given the opportunity past what is happening with my plans in the next 18 months, I will probably be looking at moving out.

Rabitt_39 do you mean you plan on moving out of Jakarta or Indonesia? Well this is a lot more refreshing then religion or politics. Sometimes it is probably good to have these ' go over my head' like Anglian. I notice that most people are quite friendly, laid back and I do enjoy the weather. I suppose a few degrees cooler would be perfect, but overall great.

 

[rabbit_39]

Rabitt_39 do you mean you plan on moving out of Jakarta or Indonesia? Well this is a lot more refreshing then religion or politics. Sometimes it is probably good to have these ' go over my head' like Anglian. I notice that most people are quite friendly, laid back and I do enjoy the weather. I suppose a few degrees cooler would be perfect, but overall great.

Indonesia. While 51% of the time things are fine, the other 49% just puts me off indonesia as a long term strategy. For me, there is a huge imbalance between unpleasant experiences and things going the way they should. I just don't get to recover from all the bad experiences to be able to enjoy living in Indonesia.

 

[Anglian]

I cannot think rabbit in the 18 years I've been here having a really bad experience, unless I've forgotten, I don't come the arrogant bule so perhaps that helps

 

[Bad_azz]

I have to say I can't think of any experiences I had that are so identifiably Indonesia related that they had a memorable (negative ) impact either.
I tend to have a positive outlook on life too so maybe that is half the battle won.

& We have had a rough 18 months financially- we certainly don't live the high life- I might be able to budget for a few beers a month but luckily I have life skills that enable less to go further than many.

 

[Nasigan]

I HAD my share of bad experiences specialy the time I still had my PT, with the police the tax people etc. big problems to long story's, to keep it very short this bastards all wanted money from this bule. but I have also a positive outlook on life and that is why I use my signature here under, to me the bastards can be some of the people of the above mention institutions but also those Muslim fundamentalist idiots or Trump and similar idiots.
the positive part you can read in my post #12

 

[rabbit_39]

I don't come the arrogant bule so perhaps that helps

I agree with you. This is one of my problems. Truly horrible experiences that I have are probably more like once a month. But within that month I'd like to experience things like going to a restaurant, order what I want and actually get decent food. Or getting flawless Uber experiences at better than 50:50 ratio. Or people smoking indoors when clearly local laws make it illegal.

I expect something close to perfection on my day to day life. Because I have nothing else to look forward to. You're right, I could be less arrogant about it.

Or when I'm working, I expect even more of my staff and team members. I give them every opportunity to succeed, even pay for trainings they require out of my own pocket.i have been able to convert some from the old mindset to one more focused on growth and continuous improvement. But too often I experience disappointments.

If I was more willing to accept these failings, perhaps I won't notice them as much? Perhaps. But as arrogant as I am, I'm unwilling to lower my standards. So yes I believe I'm an arrogant SOB who would rather be unhappy and move out of Indonesia.

Perhaps when I am more mature I'd mellow out a bit. I don't see that happening in the next 18 months though. I'm currently just trying to take advantage of my knowledge and position to make money from an Indonesian based business. If it doesn't go through, I have a few different options.

But while I'm single and unattached, I'm damn well going to take advantage of that privilege.

 

[rabbit_39]

that is why I use my signature here under

Agreed. And I don't let anyone or anything grind me down to a point of being incapacitated. For me (which is the largest difference with many of you), nothing is anchoring me to Indonesia. So why stay in a known place where I'm unhappy? Currently I have a couple of opportunities in Indonesia that I am pursuing. If those don't work out, I think I am done with Indonesia. Unless something else develop in between.

Certainly things aren't yet bad enough that I'm going to leave potentially lucrative opportunities in Indonesia. But once those are gone, unlike many of you guys, I don't have any reason to try to stay