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| Me at Bunderan HI |
I guess I had this post in mind ever since I got here. I was not sure how to approach this subject but after reading Oneika the Traveller's post about race and travel, I thought to myself it's about time to talk about my experience in Indonesia so far. I will start off by saying that in the past eight months I've been living here, I have not experienced any form of racism (not that I go looking for it). I'm British of Jamaican descent. I spent a healthy portion of my life in Jamaica where unsurprisingly the majority of the population is black. When I was 18, I moved to the UK for university and lived there for nearly eight years prior to my move to Indonesia. I quickly became used to the notion that I was in a minority and just got on with it. If anything, this prepared me for life in Jakarta. This is not to say that Indonesia is a homogeneous society; in fact, it is one of the most diverse countries in Asia with ethnic groups like Javanese and Sudanese making up the majority and smaller groups like the Bataks, Betawis and Chinese all contributing to the cultural and social identity of this country. It is interesting to note that while there are that many different ethnic groups here, the sight of pale skin or in my case dark skin can still appear to be a novelty?
The answer is simple, we are a novelty! We are in the minority and it is painfully obvious when I'm being stared at. While I am hardly the only black girl in Jakarta, I still find myself being stared at even in my neighbourhood in Central Jakarta. Men and women who work in the warungs and hang out on my street still take double takes like I'm a figment of their imagination, despite the fact that I've been walking up and down this street for the past eight months. The same occurs in my area of work (East Jakarta) where I do get stared at constantly but that is maybe less surprising considering the demographics of the area (most foreigners live in either South or Central Jakarta). Staring is not seen as offensive here in Indonesia but to me as a Westerner it frightens the shit out of me. Naturally, I've tried to adapt to it, often attempting to make small talk, which could provoke either a warm reaction or a frightened look as if they were ashamed to be looking at me in the first place.
The other way of being 'othered' is the taking of photographs with a foreigner. The first time this had happened was when I visited Bogor Botanical Gardens back in March. People were polite and asked me first, to which I happily obliged some four times that day. Since, I have now had my pictures taken with Indonesians in my class, on holidays in Lombok and Bali and even at the water park in Jakarta while I was mucking around in my bikini on water slides. I don't mind being in photos just so long as the person asks. What I openly despise is the sneaky ones who try to do it on the quiet and that freaks me out, I mean seriously what is wrong with just asking?! I had to put one or two people on blast for it but the worst one was when I was in Taman Mini and this dude asked me but I politely said no to his request as I was not in the mood and had already been in a few pictures that day. He said OK but instead of walking away he hung around and started taking photos of me on his smartphone which I did not take kindly so impolitely gave him the finger. Safe to say he got the message after that but that incident really irritated me. Saying all of that, Indonesians mean no harm in taking a photo with a Westerner, for many it is the first they have met one and want to remember the occasion by taking a photo. A strange concept to Westerners it might be but for many in this part of the world it is a big deal to meet a foreigner.
As a black foreigner, many Indonesians believe that I must be African and not British. Either that,or from Papua, Indonesia's easternmost island province. I have been called African or Papuan in the streets and for the most part it does not bother me. Funnily enough, there is a strong African presence in parts of Jakarta, such as Jalan Jaksa and many Africans play in the Indonesian Football League like my mate JP. It is surprising however, to be automatically labelled as African, considering the exposure that English language films and music videos featuring black artists from elsewhere in the world get over here. Not to mention the fact that the current President of the United States happens to be an African American who actually lived in Jakarta. Unfortunately, Africans do not have a good reputation here and Indonesians can sometimes be very quick to judge people based on stereotypes of people with dark skin (aggressive, dumb and ugly). I therefore feel it is my duty to combat such stereotypes and also educate my students and Indonesian friends that it is not cool to judge people based on their skin colour.
In the eight months I've been here, I have not knowingly experienced any form of racial discrimination. As a matter of fact, most Indonesians are curious more than rude. I remember this one time sitting on the bus home with Manc C and the 'conductor' asked me in his best English where I was from and I replied Jamaica - I normally say England because it’s often thought that Jamaica is in Africa - and to my surprise he immediately busted into a rendition of ‘Three Little Birds’ by Bob Marley. He then turned around to me said he knew I was Jamaican because I was black. I couldn't help but laugh because at the end of the day he meant no harm. Indonesians like Reggae and Bob Marley is regarded as somewhat of a deity to lovers of Reggae. Another little incident that still makes me giggle happened while I was pair teaching with Brummie A, a class of four year olds. We were doing an activity in which the kids were to touch something according to the colour I called out. I instructed ‘touch with your little finger something brown’ and one of the little ones Ola, ran up and touched me. I stifled a giggle while A was both horrified and amused. I thought the whole thing was hilarious and its incidents like these that make me laugh at myself once in a while; however, for every funny story there is a 'what the hell?' story.
The first of the incidents happened in March on the way back from Bogor. Myself, L, S and Manc R were sitting on the train heading back to Jakarta when an Indonesian soldier dude in his forties hopped on and took an interest in S, so they started chatting. Now S is British of Iranian descent and the soldier was totally convinced she must be Arab-Indonesian because ‘brown people don't live in the UK’. At this point, we were all shaking our heads and thinking what the heck. Trying to appease the group, he asked R his name and where he was from and then the same to L. When he came to me, rather than following the same line of questioning, he shouted and pointed 'Negro, Negro!' to which all my mates were like 'Dude, you can't say that!'. He didn't even say sorry or acknowledge me in any other way but carried on talking to everyone else until he disembarked. My immediate thoughts were that this is what ignorance can do to a forty odd year old man. The incident left a bad taste in my mouth but for the most part I forgot about it.
Little C and I were walking home from Jaksa at about 3:00am. Tipsy and merry, we engaged in banter the way two girls who had had a good night would. We walked past some locals and greeted them with Selamat Pagi and they responded in kind. Then we walked past this shack with two men just standing there chatting to each other. As we walked past, one of them shouted 'Nigger, Nigger!' I looked over to C and asked if I had heard right. She responded yes because she heard it too! Tipsy and tired, I did not have the energy to confront the dude and call him out on it. I went home and slept. Now I personally do not use the word in my daily speech because it’s an evil word with very negative connotations. Thinking again about the incident, I got angry as to how the hell an Indonesian would know that word? It wasn't until I sat down and I watched MTV that I found my answer....the hip-hop music videos! They bleep every other word except for 'shit' and 'nigger' because they are not offensive right?! WRONG! Damn right it's offensive! A few of my fellow teachers have said that the word has come up a few times in their classes mainly teenagers and adult classes where many of them tell their students that it is an offensive word and should never be used. Most Indonesians are not aware of the negative connotations of the word because there is a lack of dialogue or education about it. While it is not cool, it is incredibly sad.
The answer is simple, we are a novelty! We are in the minority and it is painfully obvious when I'm being stared at. While I am hardly the only black girl in Jakarta, I still find myself being stared at even in my neighbourhood in Central Jakarta. Men and women who work in the warungs and hang out on my street still take double takes like I'm a figment of their imagination, despite the fact that I've been walking up and down this street for the past eight months. The same occurs in my area of work (East Jakarta) where I do get stared at constantly but that is maybe less surprising considering the demographics of the area (most foreigners live in either South or Central Jakarta). Staring is not seen as offensive here in Indonesia but to me as a Westerner it frightens the shit out of me. Naturally, I've tried to adapt to it, often attempting to make small talk, which could provoke either a warm reaction or a frightened look as if they were ashamed to be looking at me in the first place.
The other way of being 'othered' is the taking of photographs with a foreigner. The first time this had happened was when I visited Bogor Botanical Gardens back in March. People were polite and asked me first, to which I happily obliged some four times that day. Since, I have now had my pictures taken with Indonesians in my class, on holidays in Lombok and Bali and even at the water park in Jakarta while I was mucking around in my bikini on water slides. I don't mind being in photos just so long as the person asks. What I openly despise is the sneaky ones who try to do it on the quiet and that freaks me out, I mean seriously what is wrong with just asking?! I had to put one or two people on blast for it but the worst one was when I was in Taman Mini and this dude asked me but I politely said no to his request as I was not in the mood and had already been in a few pictures that day. He said OK but instead of walking away he hung around and started taking photos of me on his smartphone which I did not take kindly so impolitely gave him the finger. Safe to say he got the message after that but that incident really irritated me. Saying all of that, Indonesians mean no harm in taking a photo with a Westerner, for many it is the first they have met one and want to remember the occasion by taking a photo. A strange concept to Westerners it might be but for many in this part of the world it is a big deal to meet a foreigner.
As a black foreigner, many Indonesians believe that I must be African and not British. Either that,or from Papua, Indonesia's easternmost island province. I have been called African or Papuan in the streets and for the most part it does not bother me. Funnily enough, there is a strong African presence in parts of Jakarta, such as Jalan Jaksa and many Africans play in the Indonesian Football League like my mate JP. It is surprising however, to be automatically labelled as African, considering the exposure that English language films and music videos featuring black artists from elsewhere in the world get over here. Not to mention the fact that the current President of the United States happens to be an African American who actually lived in Jakarta. Unfortunately, Africans do not have a good reputation here and Indonesians can sometimes be very quick to judge people based on stereotypes of people with dark skin (aggressive, dumb and ugly). I therefore feel it is my duty to combat such stereotypes and also educate my students and Indonesian friends that it is not cool to judge people based on their skin colour.
In the eight months I've been here, I have not knowingly experienced any form of racial discrimination. As a matter of fact, most Indonesians are curious more than rude. I remember this one time sitting on the bus home with Manc C and the 'conductor' asked me in his best English where I was from and I replied Jamaica - I normally say England because it’s often thought that Jamaica is in Africa - and to my surprise he immediately busted into a rendition of ‘Three Little Birds’ by Bob Marley. He then turned around to me said he knew I was Jamaican because I was black. I couldn't help but laugh because at the end of the day he meant no harm. Indonesians like Reggae and Bob Marley is regarded as somewhat of a deity to lovers of Reggae. Another little incident that still makes me giggle happened while I was pair teaching with Brummie A, a class of four year olds. We were doing an activity in which the kids were to touch something according to the colour I called out. I instructed ‘touch with your little finger something brown’ and one of the little ones Ola, ran up and touched me. I stifled a giggle while A was both horrified and amused. I thought the whole thing was hilarious and its incidents like these that make me laugh at myself once in a while; however, for every funny story there is a 'what the hell?' story.
The first of the incidents happened in March on the way back from Bogor. Myself, L, S and Manc R were sitting on the train heading back to Jakarta when an Indonesian soldier dude in his forties hopped on and took an interest in S, so they started chatting. Now S is British of Iranian descent and the soldier was totally convinced she must be Arab-Indonesian because ‘brown people don't live in the UK’. At this point, we were all shaking our heads and thinking what the heck. Trying to appease the group, he asked R his name and where he was from and then the same to L. When he came to me, rather than following the same line of questioning, he shouted and pointed 'Negro, Negro!' to which all my mates were like 'Dude, you can't say that!'. He didn't even say sorry or acknowledge me in any other way but carried on talking to everyone else until he disembarked. My immediate thoughts were that this is what ignorance can do to a forty odd year old man. The incident left a bad taste in my mouth but for the most part I forgot about it.
Little C and I were walking home from Jaksa at about 3:00am. Tipsy and merry, we engaged in banter the way two girls who had had a good night would. We walked past some locals and greeted them with Selamat Pagi and they responded in kind. Then we walked past this shack with two men just standing there chatting to each other. As we walked past, one of them shouted 'Nigger, Nigger!' I looked over to C and asked if I had heard right. She responded yes because she heard it too! Tipsy and tired, I did not have the energy to confront the dude and call him out on it. I went home and slept. Now I personally do not use the word in my daily speech because it’s an evil word with very negative connotations. Thinking again about the incident, I got angry as to how the hell an Indonesian would know that word? It wasn't until I sat down and I watched MTV that I found my answer....the hip-hop music videos! They bleep every other word except for 'shit' and 'nigger' because they are not offensive right?! WRONG! Damn right it's offensive! A few of my fellow teachers have said that the word has come up a few times in their classes mainly teenagers and adult classes where many of them tell their students that it is an offensive word and should never be used. Most Indonesians are not aware of the negative connotations of the word because there is a lack of dialogue or education about it. While it is not cool, it is incredibly sad.
Despite these two incidents, I have never allowed them to get me down because what would be the point? I prefer to let things roll off and remember all the other lovely Indonesians I have met. Being black does add a different dimension to living here but for the most part, it has helped me appreciate my skin and heritage all the more. I love talking about growing up in Jamaica and living in the UK to my students and Indonesian friends as much I love hearing them talk about Indonesian culture. Knowledge is power and with this dialogue, I feel richer for it and I hope the knowledge I impart makes people feel richer. In conclusion, being Black in the Big Durian is about being and different and therefore making a difference.
