Is Jakarta a great city for expats to inhabit?

Is Jakarta a great city for expats to inhabit?

James Kallman and Baudouin Coomans, PT. Moores Rowland Indonesia, Jakarta

It was a small piece in last Thursday's The Jakarta Post that
caught my eye Singapore tops Asian cities for expats. According
to the latest Mercer rankings of the overall quality of life in
215 cities worldwide, Singapore has risen three places to share
33rd spot with Tokyo; Jakarta is ranked 139.

Now with the greatest respect to Mercer, we beg to differ.
According to a very rough poll of expatriates, we at Moores
Rowland have ranked Jakarta among the top 10 most desirable
cities to live in anywhere in the world. And this includes
talking to expats who have lived in many different cities.
Indeed, many we canvassed have lived in Jakarta for 10 years or
more and are happy to call it home.

Thus, how can there be such a difference between the results
that Mercer came up with and the opinions of expatriates we
talked to?

Mercer base their poll on 39 quality of life criteria, using
New York as a benchmark 100. Among the things they consider are
personal safety and health, education, transport, recreation and
housing.

Now for a start we consider personal safety and health as
entirely different criteria, but perhaps this is where American,
Australasian and European cities can hope to steal a few points.

Of all the expatriates we talked to, none had any fears for
their personal safety, pointing out that this is where Asian
cities such as Jakarta, Singapore, Tokyo etc. should score well
above their counterparts in Europe and the U.S.

While there is always the potential to contract tropical
diseases in Jakarta, with care and attention to hygiene this can
to a large degree be avoided. Although much improved in recent
decades, in general medical facilities in Jakarta still perhaps
lag behind those available regionally, and definitely so for the
latest advanced treatments available in the western world.

Quality education is now available in Jakarta, but as
elsewhere for expatriates it doesn't come cheap. For tertiary and
post-graduate education however, reputation can still play a
major role in how these qualifications are viewed by potential
employers. In the age of globalization though this could well
change, as one notes how Indian computer programmers are
recognized as being among the world's elite.

Transport is an area where we do have to hold our hands up and
admit we earn a very low position. Our traffic is horrendous, not
helped by a total lack of driver discipline, particularly among
bus drivers that rank among the world's worst. One bright wag
even suggested that the reason for the new bus-way was to protect
other motorists from the excesses of at least some bus drivers.

The only positive slant we can put on this sector is that
there are few cities in the world where the average expatriate
could afford to employ a full-time driver, leaving him free to
read reports and contact business associates via mobile phone
whilst comfortably ensconced in an air-conditioned environment.

Recreation is all about what one wants. No, Jakarta does not
provide the facilities of New York's Broadway or London's West
End, but there aren't many cities in the world where you can play
golf on international-class courses so cheaply, a boon the
Japanese for example delight in. Nor do many other cities offer
such great facilities for sailing, diving and other water-sports.

In short, Jakarta does offer excellent facilities for
recreation that is dependent on personal involvement, though less
so for those that want to sit back and be entertained.

There are some beautiful houses in the Jakarta area, or as
many expatriates now prefer, luxurious apartments. Thus as far as
housing is concerned, Jakarta is certainly up amongst the front-
runners when you talk about value for money.

Presumably these are considered the most important items in
Mercer's evaluation, but what about other less black-and-white
issues?

One problem we have with such annually published reports is
that they try to quantify intangibles, comparing oranges and
rambutans against a standard of apples. Plus they are valued
through western eyes, while we suggest very different results
would be obtained based on Asian values.

In our opinion, one of the major factors as to whether or not
expatriates find a city attractive to live and work in, is their
willingness and ability to adapt to the local culture, something
that we suspect U.S.-based Mercer find difficult to factor into
their calculation.

It is thus not surprising that American, Australasian and
European cities fill the upper ranks of their chart, for although
there may be language differences the cultural heritages are to a
large degree very similar.

The move to Asia however, brings with it a totally different
set of cultural values, not to mention languages that have no
European base. For those arriving expecting things to be the same
as back home, a shock lies in store. Yet it is their willingness
to adapt to this cultural "shock" that will largely determine the
enjoyment of their stay. Those that make the effort find
fulfillment and love it, for like anything else worthwhile, you
get out what you're prepared to put in.

Gaining at least a rudimentary knowledge of the language is a
start, as is understanding the sensibilities of one's hosts. All
of this takes time, which is why the attractiveness of Jakarta
continues to be an on-growing process. Many long-term expatriates
of course find this enhanced by marriage to an Indonesian spouse.

Thus from those of us who find Jakarta one of the greatest
cities in the world in which to live, we would appreciate it if
perhaps next time Mercer could lift the city to above halfway.
However, we would be unhappy if they placed Jakarta in its
rightful place in the top 10, for that's a secret we feel is best
left untold.