To the foreign eyes, Indonesians are often perceived as being lazy. While it is unknown when such perception started, it is worth wondering whether Indonesians are generally lazy at the first place, or is it just a stereotype?

To the foreign eyes, Indonesians are often perceived as being lazy. While it is unknown when such perception started, it is worth wondering whether Indonesians are generally lazy at the first place, or is it just a stereotype?

Foreigners, especially those who have not been to Indonesia or who are planning to work in Indonesia are likely to ask this question.

On this topic, a website which is dedicated for foreigners living in Indonesia, expat.or.id, explained that there are several perceptions about Indonesians in the workplace, including “lazy, slow, inferior, polite, not punctual, lacking discipline, use feeling not logic, do not follow rules, corrupt, hypocritical, religious, resistant to change, too tolerant, low profile, unwilling to confront or give ‘bad news’, silent in meetings, incompetent.”

But the validity of the descriptions might vary from one to another because all of them are subjective, according to the individual. In the biggest Indonesian city of Jakarta, for example, it is not unusual for people to leave home at 5 AM in the morning and return back home late at night to juggle with intolerable traffic condition.

At school, unlike in many western countries, which often enjoyed multiple holiday seasons, Indonesian students are only given few holidays. In fact, many companies and schools in Indonesia still operate on Saturdays. If we were to see these examples, they cannot represent a lazy attitude.

Nevertheless, an outsider may still have an opinion that Indonesians are lazy because the country’s development progress is a bit slow, despite the abundant natural resource. Many foreigners ask why in term of its physical infrastructure development, Indonesia is left far behind other countries with fewer natural resources? Why do many Indonesians also still live in poverty? And the answers would often lead to “this must be because Indonesians are lazy”.

While it is true that Indonesia is one country with one of the largest natural resources in the world, there are many complicated factors that hinder economic advancement.

“No sufficient jobs and uneven infrastructure developments have triggered poverty. Around 63 percent Indonesians who live in poverty are mostly farmers and fishermen in villages. There are many large gaps in the infrastructure development between cities and regions”, reported by Indonesia Newspaper Tribun News.

Managing diversity

It is obvious that Indonesia faces many challenges in bringing its people to a more prosperous life. In a large country with tens of thousands of islands carrying diverse languages, cultures, and natural potentials, being the government is not an easy duty.

There are many aspects to be improved, including how to reduce corruptions, a common practice in Indonesia. Education also plays a significant role in supporting standard of living. Many Indonesians still do not have sufficient knowledge or educational background to understand the potentials of their own country, as well as to alleviate themselves from poverty. Once again, this is also because of the large gap in educational facilities between regions.

The previous Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs, Rizal Ramli said, as reported by Kompas, “Developed countries do not have natural resources, that is why they focus on improving human resources. Finally, these educated people are the ones who change the nations.”

The current government also agrees to take serious steps to elevate Indonesian human resources. If you are smart and educated, perhaps it’s ok to be lazy while enjoying one’s life, so long one can innovate and invent new ways to still be productive, with less work. And hopefully soon, Indonesians are more known for their creativity, productivity and independency, not for just being lazy.

Source: globalindonesianvoices.com