Greeting foreigners

Greeting foreigners

I feel touched reading Paul Wesson's letter 'Be polite'
published in The Jakarta Post, Oct. 30, 1996, in which he deeply
regretted the way other expatriates reacted toward Indonesians
who greeted them with "Hello Mister!" Other expatriates, he
wrote, often rudely ignore or snub young Indonesian men who greet
them on the street. I wonder why they do so? Does it do any harm
to them just to make a friendly gesture to the greeters?

Generally, we greet foreigners (particularly bule, as we call
them here) just to show our respect, although I realize a few do
it for other reasons. So responding to such respect would require
no more than just a smile, a nod or a wink.

BRAM SAHADEWA

Jakarta