This is my country, Indonesia. We call her with her official name in Bahasa Indonesia, Republik Indonesia, or Republic of Indonesia. She lies in the border between Southeast Asia and Oceania. But officially, Indonesia is a part of Southeast Asia region along with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei Darussalam.
Indonesia is known as a third world country. She’s still a developed country which has yet to achieve prosperity and advancement. Most people in the world thought of her as an underdeveloped nation. Some of them even thought that Indonesia still inhabited by primitive and cannibal races who live in the jungle without roads, highways, skyscrappers, malls, ATMs, and cars!
And recently, our image is ruined by a series of terrorist attacks linked with Jamaah Islamiyah movement, who are considered to be the Southeast Asian “cartel” of the terrorist group lead by Osama ben Laden, Al Qaeda. Since the bombs attack in Bali on October 2002 who killed hundreds of Australian tourists, we received travel warning status from US and European countries.
No one is not allowed to visit Indonesia, since it considered to be an unsafe territory. And Indonesian who try to visit another country must face humiliation, harassment, and even discrimination upon arriving on airport by the local immigration officers, especially in the US and Australia.
And to make it even worse, we are still not recovered yet from the economy and monetary crisis that plagued Asian countries a decade ago. Thailand, Malaysia, and South Korea has gained back their economic stability, but Indonesia is not doing that well. We still live in a gloomy and depressed situasion. Prices skyrocket, especially the BBM (bahan bakar minyak) or the oil and gasoline.
Public services going from bad to worse. There are not enough electricity, government officials said, but the bills constantly getting even higher and more expensive each year. Corruption is not considered a crime anymore, because anyone and everyone do it to penetrate the complexity of bureaucracy labyrinth in almost every aspects of daily life.
Basically, we’re Indonesian do not live in a good and friendly environment. Each one of us must act like a fighter, who live to conquer anything that surrounds us, especially those who live beyond the line of poverty.
But the good and special nature of us is that, no matter the situation was and no matter how bad and miserable life we had, we’re still blessed with a good sense of humor. I don’t know much about life and culture in other countries, but I always feel that Indonesia is the most humorous country in the world.
We always have reasons to laugh, to laugh at other people’s fortune or misfortune, and even to laugh at ourselves. We still have a lot of talented comedians. And our TV channels are always fully loaded with funny programmes. We have funny talk shows, funny “sinetron” (TV series/movies), funny news programme, and even funny reality shows.
Ordinary people are often funny too. Each class and environment in the society always have a bunch of funny people who are capable of lighten up the tense of everyday life. In the office, in the classroom, in the neighborhood, and amongst relatives, we will meet those funny guys and involved in a relax situation which is called “guyon” (joking together).
This simple and humble weblog is my homage to the special nature of most Indonesian. Here you can find unique and funny stuffs about Indonesia and her people. Hopefully, this will be a tool of understanding between us and the whole world. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride…
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