Poor majority are the real Indonesia<\/p>\n
The article of Lourdes Didith V. Mendoza in The Jakarta Post
\non July 8, titled The closer look at the Philippines' poor is a
\ncry from my heart. It is as if she were writing about the
\nIndonesian situation. She did not mention that the poor are
\nskivvying for us, polishing our shoes, washing our clothes,
\ncleaning our houses, looking after our gardens, taking care for
\nour little children, and that if they did not, we would have to
\ndo it all ourselves.<\/p>\n
Yet, I can hear people say that they are less intelligent, so
\nyour cannot treat them as people of your own kind. I can hear
\npeople say that they are even a different human subspecies:
\nPeople smile at me when I say I like to talk to them.<\/p>\n
We are expats who haven't lived long in Jakarta. I'm
\ninterested in what they think about society and their way of
\nliving. People think I'm kind of strange when I say I have
\nvisited the house of a grobak (trash pushcart) man. Maybe they
\nknew already; you cannot see the way he lives with his family
\nwithout becoming very confused.<\/p>\n
You think the Indonesia we live in is the real Indonesia, but
\nwhen I see so many people (perhaps the majority?) struggling to
\nsurvive in a very intelligent and creative way I think sometimes
\nthe real Indonesia is that of the man in the street.<\/p>\n
A.L. ZICKHARDT, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/poor-majority-are-the-real-indonesia-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }