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SiThep
Joined: 30 May 2013 Posts: 39 Location: Thailand
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Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2013 1:17 pm Post subject: Is Indonesia Becoming More Racially Intolerant? |
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There was a major international survey of attitudes of racial tolerance (or intolerance) which has been featured in many newspapers in recent days. The question asked was whether you would mind if someone of a different race or religion moved in next door to you. It found that while people in English-speaking countries were generally very tolerant on this point, Indonesia was one of the most intolerant countries in the world. It was in the same band as places like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt. I have also been disturbed by the reports of attacks of churches and mosques (of differing sects) in Indonesia.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325502/Map-shows-worlds-racist-countries-answers-surprise-you.html
Do people on the ground feel that Indonesia is becoming a much more intolerant place to live and work? |
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TheOmar
Joined: 25 Sep 2011 Posts: 21
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Posted: Fri Jan 03, 2014 10:31 am Post subject: Tolerant in my book |
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Sorry for the super late reply.
I found Indonesia to be much more tolerant compared to The Big Asia 3 - China, S. Korea, and Japan.
My foreigner friends there ranged from white, black, Asian-British, Indian-British, and Pakistani-American (that's me!).
I didn't hear about anything racially intolerant there. Just stupid stuff like how my Asian friend would always get spoken to in Bahasa Indonesian and he'd say he's from England but they didn't believe him. So he just said he's from Singapore and they accepted that. |
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plumpy nut
Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 1652
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Posted: Fri Jan 03, 2014 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not sure how one would assess levels of racial intolerance in a country like Indonesia. What I see is a government in Indonesia that is absolutely criminal, whereas most are struggling to feed their families and make some kind of a living for themselves. Aside from the religious intolerance that you see between communities, I don't think that there is that much intolerance towards Westerners and foreigners. |
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Atoms for Peace
Joined: 06 Feb 2006 Posts: 135 Location: NKRI
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Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2014 5:30 am Post subject: |
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Indonesians don't seem to be too intolerant to individual foreigners (except for black Africans), but like many nationalistic countries, harbor prejudices against other nations that have made better progress since independence (such as Malaysia and Singapore). They are also susceptible to xenophobic sentiment whipped up by religious and political figures, as blaming foreigners is a sure vote-winner. Indonesia will hold legislative and presidential elections this year, and several nationalist parties will use the foreign-bashing tactic to increase their share of the vote. The ruling coalition may feel the need to respond, possibly with legislation (or promises of it) that makes life more difficult for foreigners, such as tighter rules for work permits. Foreigners are occasionally threatened with "sweeping" when there are problems between Indonesia and other nations, such as the recent revelations of Australian monitoring of cellphone calls, but this usually blows over quickly without anything happening. |
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plumpy nut
Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 1652
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Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 6:56 am Post subject: |
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Atoms for Peace wrote: |
Indonesians don't seem to be too intolerant to individual foreigners (except for black Africans), |
Too bad about the Nigerians. Their smarter than most whites, unfortunately they seem to be well known for being criminals. |
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plumpy nut
Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 1652
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Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 7:02 am Post subject: |
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Atoms for Peace wrote: |
Foreigners are occasionally threatened with "sweeping" when there are problems between Indonesia and other nations, such as the recent revelations of Australian monitoring of cellphone calls, but this usually blows over quickly without anything happening. |
Ah yes our well known allies to the south. I don't want to be in a plane with a terrorist bomb in it, so keep it up. |
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RiverMystic
Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 1986
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Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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The Indonesian government seems to enjoy whipping up xenophobia. It is interesting to note the difference between the reactions of the Australian government and people when Indonesian spying was uncovered in Australia eight years ago (i.e. disinterest, as every country monitors its neighbours) vs the outrage whipped up by the Indonesian government recently when it was discovered Australia was intercepting Indonesian intelligence - something everyone knew was happening.
The ongoing boat saga is another interesting point. Indonesia tries to make it look like Australia is at fault for telling Indonesia to start taking some responsibility for their failure to solve a problem that originates in Indonesia. Australia is actually doing the right thing by being tough on Indonesia. If they don't do this the Indonesians will just play the victim card forever - when they are in fact the perpetrator. |
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princesss
Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 152 Location: japan/indo/aust
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:14 am Post subject: |
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RiverMystic wrote: |
The Indonesian government seems to enjoy whipping up xenophobia. It is interesting to note the difference between the reactions of the Australian government and people when Indonesian spying was uncovered in Australia eight years ago (i.e. disinterest, as every country monitors its neighbours) vs the outrage whipped up by the Indonesian government recently when it was discovered Australia was intercepting Indonesian intelligence - something everyone knew was happening. |
I agree about the xenophobia. The sad thing is that ordinary Indonesians are quite open to Westerners and are friendly. So often the xenophobia seemd to be whipped up for political advantage. Maybe things will improve after the elections next month. |
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