Kuku you should know, you have what is it 4 wives?

A maid is not a person, it’s a _job_ and a hard job at that. Imagine having to clean an entire house at least twice a day, raise the kids there and put up with crap from an abusive majikan.. AND only get paid Rp 400.000 per month if they are lucky.

I have respect for maids in Indonesia and while I don’t have one now (and when I did I paid her more than others paid theirs and didn’t give her much work to do) I do feel upset when I see people throw around terms like “muka pembantu”, as if maids are ugly and cheap, when they aren’t. They’re just trying to make a living like you and I.

This kind of attitude needs to change.

Many westerners in Jakarta are “immoral.” Many aren’t. Some pick up girls from the most horrid dives imaginable, some don’t. The ones who do hang out in places where the drinks are cheap enough for poor girls to enjoy while they’re waiting for the guy who is going to marry them and whisk them away to germany, england, the states or wherever, or at least let them live in his apartment instead of a tiny kosan in an urban village in a giant, filthy concrete jungle. The ones who don’t pick up girls of that sort tend to eschew the earthly delights of Blok M and Stadium, and hang out in more expensive places where the entertainment is more highbrow and they won’t be hassled by barfly girls. Either that or they stay at home. There are various degrees in between the two extremens, but you tell me who’s more visible of the two groups, and who is therefore more likely to be representative of what appears to be a fairly homogenous group.

Thang – not too many teachers live in fancy apartments. Trust me – I was one. Most teachers outside international schools are making less than the quivalent of a McDonalds assistant manager in their home country. The ones a little up the food chain live in apartments in the expat ghettos like Rasuna and Mediterranean, not quite ‘flashy’ by western standards.

The biggest of the “lower classes” of expat are the ones looking for a different future for themselves. Some of these are mentally derelict, some are not. Some teachers at bare-bones “language institutions” like EF are former computer systems topologists (I don’t even know what that is), former world news editors of top-three news agencies, music majors, and former U.S. coast guard colonels. Some are former spray-painters, mechanics and factory workers. Some are in Jakarta because their job was boring or the market for jobs in their field back home were too tight, some are here because they like picking up cheap hookers with or without muka pembantu. Some are here so they can launch a musical career. Some are considered unattractive by the girls back home and enjoy life here because of the availability of women they find attractive — this is almost always a bonus factor for the teachers I know, but usually not a decisive one.

In the middle of the salary scale are consultants, engineers and miscellaneous. Often middle-aged, some young, some ancient. Some enjoy hitting blok m, some don’t. At the top end of the salary scale.. well I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

Jakarta is a city of extreme contrasts, and those that choose to live here reflect that to some extent. It’s difficult to have a middle-of-the-road lifestyle because it doesn’t really exist. The stay-at-home good-husband group are less visible to the rest of society, the hit-Mybar-and-take-home-a-cheap-hooker types are more visible.

The attractions Jakarta offers are few and far between. There are few cities less polluted in the world than this one, and surely none with less natural charm. That’s right, I’m going to paint in absurdly broad strokes – just because I can – and say that as an expat either you’re here to get away from something, here because your company posted you here, here to get into something, or here for the women. The ones who are here for the women are here for “Indonesian” women. If they weren’t they’d be in Thailand or South America. That usually means dark skin, smooth features, big round eyes and an “innocent” look. That corresponds to the bare bones of the “pembantu” look pretty well. But the pembantu look usually combines those features with the slightly-worn appearance of — wait for it — exactly the type of poverty-stricken lifestyle that’s likely to drive a girl to wind up in Mybar looking for a boyfriend, husband, or cash. Those who are here for the women are more likely to want to be free to sample many of the women, and therefore less likely to get involved with someone who requires more commitment. Some guys get a dirty kick out of mistreating poverty-stricken ayam, some don’t. The ayam remain as ayam because the wage is better than sewing Nikes together in Bekasi for 70 hours a week.

The term “muka pembantu” is common among Indonesians to describe someone who looks like a “typical maid”. Also quite common with Indonesians is the general statement “Chinese people are arrogant and they smell,” and “Westerners are immoral and rich and they like Indonesian girls with muka pembantu.” See a pattern there? Indonesia is traditionally populated by distinct ethnic groups about who generalizations can be made because of a greater degree of homogenity in their various cultures — for example Bataks enjoy arguing (look for christian “christian” names and family names like Simatupang on law offices), Betawis enjoy sitting next to the road in groups shouting at other groups of Betawis in the other prime sitting spots within earshot, Solonese tiptoe around fearing to offend anyone, and Indonesian Chinese tend to be business-savvy and stick to their tight little groups. If you’ve always been able to classify every group of people, how long is it going to take to change that attitude when another group who are mostly tall, have lighter skin hair and eyes and all seem to speak english come to town? It’s not racism if it’s true, it’s not racist to point it out and it’s not intentionally racist when they laugh at bule guys for picking the maid-faced girls.

And that’s my go-cheng on the matter.

I like you !

My name is the Borat. I am T.V. journalist from Kazakhstan. My hobby is disco-dancing, table tennis and incest. I am make very documentary about Indonesia.

I am have many friend the Bule. They are very strong to make the sex in the Anus !

But do not think Kazakhstan is not modern country. No the homosexual do not have to wear the blue hat, women can ride on the inside of bus, and we have real sit-down toilet in Astana !

Please you are come to see my film in November. “Culural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”

Chengkui !

Borat

It’s not a question of whether or not we should ban it, or a self-appointed clique of language police should determine whether or not we use the term “bule”.

Some Indonesians and Westerners such as the trained linguist with an interest in Semiotics Mr. Reveller, that they do not find “Bule” to be derogatory. In fact, some say, there is still a post-colonial hangover associating Caucasian people, or “bule”, with superior qualities.

The problem, as Ms. Suzanne points out, is Bule’s racial meaning. “Bule” means Albino, a person with a deficiency of melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour. (Jemaah Islamiah activists might say that pigs give Bules their true colour- pink).

So to talk about the qualities of “Orang Bule”, or “Bules in Jakarta,” strictly speaking, you’re talking about “white people”. Some opponents of PC-dom might say that’s not what people mean by Bule, but words have meanings. That’s why we have dictionaries. “Bule” means a Caucasian with white skin.

“Bule” also exists in relation to other skin colours, various shades of brown, yellow, or hitam as Indonesians described the dark-skinned.

While “Bule” might usually be a neutral term, what about “Inlander”, “Pri”, or “Cina”. Taken beyond this country’s borders, how about “Bule” terms for other races or ethnic groups, like Nigger, Gook, Dago, Wop, Slope, Coon or Abbo. Not quite so pleasant.

The point is, “Bule” exists on an invisible continuum of racial terms and categories, mostly festering about in the subconscious. There was a time in Indonesia when it wasn’t so good to be an Asiatic or Pribumi. Batavia, Bandung and other Indonesian cities were once divided into quarters for each of the races. A different European colony, South Africa, did likewise, setting up that nice system called Apartheid that’s so fashionable now.

Another point is that racial terms are about a century behind biology, science, and anthropology. Biologically, a Swede might have more in common with an Indonesian than another Indonesian, given DNA chains and the other chemical factors that make us human. (If you don’t believe me look up race on Wikipedia).

I, for example, am a “Bule”, but can’t donate blood to other bules (unless I want to kill them), because my blood type is more common in Asia because of my Kazakh great-great-great grandparents.

So when Lee Kuan Yew gets on his bully pulpit to preach about eugenics and the laziness of the Malay race, or industrious ness Chinese race, he’s talking about very nasty political – not biological – definitions.

If you’re interested in joining the ranks of people who use these definitions, go ahead. They include the Adolf Hitler, his racial higene scientists and the “phrenologists”, the notorious skull-measurers of the 19th century who provide American Indians were inferior because of the shape of their skulls.

Finally, there are those who’d complain that “Bule” is just a word. As mentioned about the words like Nigger, Gook, or Coon ? Words obviously matter to some people. Fratricide in this country was “pembersihan komunis”, civilian deaths in war are “collateral damage,”; the list goes on.

It’s not a question of banning words. Just maybe using better ones like “Londo” (Javanese term for whities), or “Orang Barat” westerner.

Still feel good about being “Orang Bule” ? Maybe we need some resident phrenologists.

Bejizzlement Humpid-Humpidiam