Job Discussion Forums

laughing_magpie06 · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 282

I visited Hermina Sunter RS while my wife was pregnant and one doctor charged us more than all my wife's friends. Also he charged more when I was with her than when she went alone. When I asked him to explain his excuse was he didn't pass on the admin cost to all his patients therefore they got a cheaper rate. So he said we paid the correct price.
We promptly changed doctors but stayed at the same hospital because overall it is still one of the best in Indonesia.

hairyrambutan · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:46 am Post subject:

I also take my son to this hospital, it is a lot nicer than Dr Cipto. I actually have never compared the prices I've paid there with other people I know. What was the mark-up? This kind of thing seems to happen to you with far greater frequency than it does to people I know outside cyberspace.

eddie honda · Joined: 18 Feb 2005 Posts: 59

RE: teaching salaries

whether you want to believe it or not, an EF salary IS the equivalent of a mid-managers salary, a TBI kuningan salary (back on thread Shocked

) is a senior managers salary and 20mil+ is very rare outside commission based employment (traders, sales, etc). Rich people usually own their own business, they are not salaried.

People buy cars on credit, don't spend much on drink and going out, eat cheaply (compared to bule) and save what they can, etc

if they want, teachers can eat out all the time, go to the most exclusive clubs in town, take taxis everywhere, have an apartment with a swimming pool etc. Could you do that in the US? UK?

lots of my (highly qualified) indonesian friends get annoyed that any monkey from the west can get an EF job on double their salary.

While ef salaries are low compared to other teaching salaries (thus making anyone who works there for more than one year somewhat foolish) most middle class indonesians would LOVE to earn that much.

so like it or not you are well-off. fact.

reddrake · Joined: 04 Apr 2008 Posts: 47 Location: Riyadh

Andror · Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Posts: 34

reddrake · Joined: 04 Apr 2008 Posts: 47 Location: Riyadh

TEAM_PAPUA · Joined: 24 May 2004 Posts: 1679 Location: HOLE

wannaBguru · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 110

i am not complaining, i am LMAO. didnt know BFC on jl jaksa was an exclusive club.

hairyrambutan · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:26 am Post subject: Re: *

TEAM_PAPUA · Joined: 24 May 2004 Posts: 1679 Location: HOLE

Doesn't the word bule mean white? And from this meaning it became the slang word for foreigners?

Paki is just down right rude and ignorant. That is like calling me an Engi.

But seriously that sucks.

hairyrambutan · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:38 am Post subject:

As far as I know, 'bule' means foreigner, but to many Indonesians, being a foreigner means being white.

As smoking English teachers will know, the Indonesian word for 'white' is 'putih'.

I imagine Javanese has several variants of the word. At least one of these is 'seto' or 'seta' which comprises part of my middle name as given to me by my by mother as I was born during her first winter.

rayman · Joined: 24 May 2003 Posts: 427

sherlock · Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 72

The Bule argument has been done to death on many forums, not least the indonesiamatters forum, where there were hundreds of comments by longtime expats.

Also this, http://theunspunblog.com/2006/10/04/bules-like-pembantus/ discusses many of this issues you are referring to.

From memory the word 'bule' actually means albino and then came to mean 'white person' - some may say in a derogatory way. It really depends on each person as to how they react to the word. Most don't care and use it often to describe themselves, but every so often I come accross the odd bule who hates the word and will berate an Indonesian for using it - good luck with that.

In terms of pay - I don't really understand why people whinge about their salary. I mean, unless the contract was changed on a person, was it not the same amount that the person agreed to in the first place. If you agreed to the amount, suck it up and stop bitching.

And nice to know there is still modesty in the world. Your students are indeed lucky to have a screenwriter, producer and director as a teacher and with all that money, why you should be doing it for free.

hairyrambutan · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:28 am Post subject:

In my typically arrogant way, I've disregarded the above link and asked some educated Indonesian friends what the word 'bule' means. A lawyer, an architect and an IT consultant.

I asked them in separate conversations and they all said the same thing. It literally means foreigner, but this gets misconstrued because many Indonesians perceive all foreigners as having fair skin. Two of them also clarified that it does not mean albino.

The fact that many people choose not to get offended by the term is an explanation in itself.

Those discussing salaries vs. quality of life may wish to have another look at the UK student loans thread.

sherlock · Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 72

Of course they are going to say it means foreigner, and I am not disputing that it doesn't. Like all language (being dynamic) the word has changed meaning over time and nowadays has came to mean foreigner. Originally (and your friends may not know this) it did mean albino. This has been discussed at leangth, over many years and it is the consensus of most linguists with knowledge of Bahasa Indonesia.

Nowadays, Indonesians just use the English loan word 'Albino'. Another example, as my linguist friend would say, of the corruption of the Indonesian language.