First day in Jakarta

Interesting new encounters already on the flight and first eve in Jakarta. I spend the flight next to a very friendly woman working for the German(socialdemocrat) Friedrich Ebert foundation in Jakarta. She gave me a crash course in Indonesian culture and language. In theory, Bahasa Indonesian is not very difficult, but after hours and hours of trying, the unfamiliar words dont want to stick in my memory. In particular the expression for `thank you` (terima kashi) and the many different ways to say `good morning` (always closely watch your watch to chose the right form). The Friedrich-Ebert foundation works a lot with trade unions on questions like workers rights and minimum salary.

Once in Jakarta, I`m impressed by the city at night. Jakarta was described to me as a moloch, a monsterous city you should avoid as far as possible. But now I enjoy the glittering city, stretching my head as far back as possible to try to get a glimpse of the top of the high-rise buildings.

The evening in my very basic losmen (guesthouse), I get to know a Belgian and an Dutch-Indonesian guy. they take me out to a local street-side restaurant. The food comes from a particular city on Sumatra, Padang. It`s particularity consists in the fact that it is composed of many different dishes, none of them containing any veggies, only meat, sauce, rice. Another particularity of this region of Sumatra is that local people practice the matriachat. We spend the eve chatting in Dutch. The two friends came to Indonesia for a special business: they want to hire cheap Indonesian workforce for Dutch companies who are to work in the Middle East on oil plants. According to them, Indonesians can touch this way a salary 10 times higher of what they get in Indonesia (about 100 euro/month). They also work in collaboration with the trade unions to hire their staff.

On the way home, we pass under a train bridge. People sleep on tables on the street, next to the bridge. Not long ago, I`m told, these homeless still lived under the bridge which protected them from the heavy rains. Now a company bought the space, put a fence around and uses it as a parking space. Expansive cars can now park on the newly sealed clean ground, the homeless have lost their improvised shelter.

Now I got to leave, off to my first interview in the ASEAN Secretariat.