Brits maintain a stiff upper lip in Surabaya

Duncan Graham, Contributor, Surabaya

When young English teacher Alex Gough arrived in Surabaya about 12 years ago there was a small, but active British community functioning in the East Java capital.

There was also a British Consul backed by a system of "wardens". Their job was to maintain contact with expats and pass around information. There was also a branch of the British Council promoting arts, culture and education.

"I can remember gathering around the pool at the consul's house with other British expats and drinking gin and tonics," said Gough.

"This was during the 1990s when the political and economic situation was unstable."To my surprise, we were told very clearly that we were on our own and there was no way the British government was going to repatriate us if things got nasty.

"At the time the Americans were organizing muster stations for their citizens and the Koreans had pickup points. We just had to keep a stiff upper lip. That's how it felt, like something out of Our Man in Havana" (the famous Graham Greene novel).

Now there is no honorary British Consul in Surabaya, a job that traditionally fell to the manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, but later passed to industrialists who worked far out of the city. The wardens have also vanished, more victims of Internet communication.

And, last year, the British Council closed its beautifully refurbished study center in central Surabaya. This was a marvelous place for locals and expats to read English literature, watch British videos and discuss international affairs over a cup of Java coffee.

Many of the Council's resources have been passed on to the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) in Surabaya. It is a fitting location (see sidebar).

'A few blobs in lots of water'

And Gough, the one-time footloose English hitchhiking backpacker from Kent who fell in love with Indonesia and an Indonesian woman, is now well established. Through durability and status he has become the de-facto head of the tiny British community in Indonesia's second-largest city.

It's not a position he's sought or promotes, and thinks the idea a hoot, particularly as his first arrival in Indonesia was with turtle smugglers plying the Malacca Straits. At the time his knowledge of the archipelago was of "a few blobs in lots of water."

Now he speaks fluent Indonesian, wears a tie and manages a prestigious English language college with about 400 students and a reputation for excellence.

There's been no conscious plan to Anglicize the place, but half of Gough's expat staff at the Indonesia Australia Language Foundation (IALF) are British. Ironically, this makes the Australian institution probably the largest employer of Britons in Surabaya.

Where are the Aussies? Some are out in the pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) helping local English teachers improve their skills (see The Jakarta Post Sept. 7, 2005). But persistent travel warnings and a bad press have made many Australians reluctant to travel west of Bali.

Another factor is the low wages offered to Australian teachers who can earn much more in Korea and Japan and where visa restrictions and tax imposts are reported to be less onerous. For British teachers seeking overseas experience Indonesia is not a worrisome neighbor but a distant and exotic location.

Warnings against foreigners gathering in places like upmarket hotels, where they may present fundamentalists with an easy target, have also served to keep expats at home.

Even in the well-known Jatim Club in the KADIN (Indonesian Chamber of Commerce) building, a cheery spot where businessfolk quaff lager longer, the English is more Rhine than Thames.

The Expat Women's Association of Surabaya has about only five Britons in a total membership of around 100.

"The situation is different in Jakarta where the British have a substantial presence but in East Java we are now such a small group of teachers and technical advisers that we can't maintain a separate identity," Gough said.

"That's not a problem for me. My wife, Dinda, is Javanese and I've become a Muslim. We live in the community. But our two-year old daughter, Olive, is British and like me can only stay here on a visa."

It's these sorts of citizenship difficulties that often confound expats in Indonesia who form relationships and have children. For these people consular offices have traditionally provided information and sometimes assistance. That's when they're not promoting trade opportunities or encouraging tourists.

France, Germany, the U.S., the Netherlands, India, Sweden, Japan, Sri Lanka, Belgium and Denmark all have consular or honorary consular services in Surabaya.

The centralization of services and the expanding use of the Internet have weakened the demand for a local presence, but Indonesian culture prefers face-to-face contacts, particularly in business.

"It's a shame to see the British Council break up in Surabaya," said Gough. "There's a great need for cultural events to promote our way of life, and that's not happening. The cross- cultural component of education is extremely important, and we teach this at the IALF.

"Surabaya gets a hammering in the guide books and Westerners tend to roll their eyes when they hear East Java, but I find living here is great. Sure, there's some pollution but it's nothing compared with some industrial cities in China.

"The British should be far more active here. If you come here with the right attitude it's an awesome experience -- and I mean that in the American sense of the word. This is a wonderful country -- it's so many countries within a country.

"As a bule you can't lock yourself away in an expat enclave and pretend it's Gibraltar. You either like it and join in, or hate it and get out.

"East Java is very Indonesian. It's also very safe. There's so much to do and see. But there's no point in living here if you're really not into the place."