Jakarta Catching up - Hodge Podge

Okay, so I'm way behind posting on my blog. Thursday we worked a 12 hour day wrapping up the documentation of our discussions, so nothing blog-worthy happened for a non-technical blog. To keep this dialogue segmented for easy reading, I'll use Thursday's blog for some random observations and other thoughts.

First, I forgot to mention that when you arrive in the Hong Kong airport, as you enter the airport, you walk past an infrared camera. The purpose of these camera's is to determine if you have a fever. If you remember back a few years, Hong Kong had a major outbreak of avian flu. Checking arrivals for a fever is one of the measures they put in place to prevent a pandemic.

Second, the team here in Indonesia is extremely bright. I've been thoroughly impressed by not only the quality of the products they've developed here, but the simple elegance of the architecture. Individually, the people on the team are not only broad in their technical knowledge, but in their particular space, they are very deep. This will be a great team to work with moving forward.

Third, the gap between the wealthy and the impoverished in Indonesia is much more pronounced than in the United States. The increasing gap in the US has made national news lately as the rich get richer, and the poor get richer and a much slower rate. In Jakarta, you have a whole class of people - businessman, lawyers, doctors and politicians - that have separated themselves from the rest of the nation. Indonesia tries to supplement this wealth gap by requiring companies to hire more staff than they normally would. For example, at the hotel, each day we arrive about 10 people greet us at the door. That's all they do - greet people when they arrive. The net effect of this is more employment, but at a much lower salary. For example, the typical sales person at a mall is making $100 a month.

Fourth, Indonesia is considered the world's largest Muslim nation. There are more people in Indonesia that call themselves Muslim than any other country. However, the Muslims here are not as fervent in their beliefs as the Muslims in other countries. I don't mean to say they are bad Muslims, or are not devout - it's more that most Muslims in Indonesia are like most Christians in the United States. They affiliate themselves with those beliefs, and that philosophy, but they only attend the mosque on the major holidays, they don't pray five times a day, and they don't adhere to the strict, basically Kosher, dietary requirements. They also don't hate America; though they aren't fans of George W. Bush (and they really liked Bill Clinton).

Fifth, before travelling to Indonesia, most of my family expressed concern about the safety of the country. I, too, read everything the US Embassies published about Jakarta, read articles on the Internet about Jakarta - and the information wasn't reassuring. There is an old saying that says "he who wins the wars writes the history". Basically, when you have the power, your perspective endures. America, American media, and Americans, see Indonesia as a terrorist infected, dangerous location with bombs exploding every day. The same group of people think Israel is a very dangerous place because it is always under attack and bombs explode around you every day. Well, as Amit told us when we asked about living in Israel - "there is what the media tells you about, and then there is the reality". People in Jakarta, and Israel for that matter, don't live in fear every day that a bomb will go off. Jakarta is just like any other major city - there are areas you don't go into unless you have to (even if you are local), and there are areas that you want to go to. There may be more areas in Jakarta you want to avoid, but the concept is the same. People who don't visit nations out of fear for their safety really miss out on some fascinating parts of the world. I'm not saying take a vacation to Iraq, Afghanistan or Sudan - but don't fear Indonesia, most of Africa, Pakistan, or eastern European countries.

Finally, watching the international news here is quite interesting. For news, I have the choice between CNN Asia, BBC, Australian Network, FOX News, Al Jazeera (in English), and some channels in languages I can't follow. The international press despises George Bush. I knew there was some animosity, but I've been shocked at just how deep the dislike runs. Even the way they ask questions, like this one posed to a member of Bush's cabinet "now that American presence in Iraq has been a disaster, how do you withdraw" are laced with disdain. The global media, and, quite frankly, the population, view GW as a moron. They can't understand how America could elect someone like him - twice. If we wonder why American relations with Russia are deteriorating, why Germany has publicly condemned our world activities, why Spain pulled out of the fighting in Iraq after one retaliation - it's because GW has alienated the rest of the world. It's quite unfortunate. Never has one person done so much, so fast, to alienate America in the eyes of the rest of the world. I hope whoever succeeds him, be it a Republican or Democrat, can repair many of the relationships we've strained in the last eight years.