A confusing melting pot at UN meeting
A confusing melting pot at UN meeting
It is refreshing to see thousands of people from different
parts of the world flocking to Bali to attend the UN ministerial
meeting on sustainable development.
However, for some people, the variety of people of all colors
can be confusing.
A waitress at a restaurant at the Inter-Continental Hotel in
Jimbaran, Bali, posed a question to an Indonesian journalist, I.
Christianto, in English.
"What would you like to drink, Sir?" said the waitress in
English.
The journalist, a Chinese-Indonesian, was perplexed by the
question, and eventually replied in Indonesian.
Soon after, another waiter approached U Kyauw Tin, a diplomat
from Myanmar who was sitting next to Christianto, and posed a
question in Indonesian.
The question surely confused the diplomat. The confusion was
over when the journalist explained to the waiter that the
diplomat was from Myanmar.
"Indeed, he looks like a Javanese," the journalist commented.