Be proud of yourself

I refer to the letter of Fenty Ang (an Indonesian student in Singapore) that appeared in The Jakarta Post on April 23 and felt sorry for her having such a low opinion about her country and its people.

I have lived in Indonesia for about 12 years, mainly in Surabaya and Jakarta working in three private enterprises mainly connected to making, shaping and treating of steel. Two of the three are industrial units employing 600 to 700 blue and white collar workers.

I have travailed all over the world except the Australian continent and have seen workers of many Asian, European and American (and, of course, Indian) steel plants. And I find that Indonesian workers are second to none. They are hard-working, sincere and knowledgeable and do not need constant supervision. Though small-built, they pack surprisingly superb strength, stamina and staying power. They do not need to be continuously supervised and have a good work ethic.

I feel that if any one has let down this great country, a volcano of talent, capability and enormous natural resources, it is the elite class of this country.

Fenty Ang was humiliated by her teacher about the lack of skills of Indonesian workers in the IT area. She can now proudly tell her "arrogant" Singaporean teacher that recently two Indonesians won the international competition in software competence conducted by Google India for Southeast Asia in Bangalore beating all nationalities including Singaporeans!

I always tell my colleagues in my factory in East Jakarta to feel proud of their people, its products and its capabilities and talents. I think Indonesia is a sleeping giant who is showing signs of waking up and its new leadership with an emphasis on eradicating corruption is sure to give them a shot in the arm.

In addition to that the Indonesian government should make really good proficiency in English language a compulsory part of their educational system. I have seen my Indonesian colleagues getting mighty nervous if they have to write a letter to suppliers in English and, more often than not, they end up making a telephone call to register a complaint with no paper trail to follow up if nothing is done by the supplier to redress the complaint.

Come on, Indonesia! You are a great country. Feel proud about yourself and your country and never underestimate yourself!

K. B. KALE Jakarta