My husband, an expat

I was born in Indonesia and raised in Menteng, Central Jakarta, but have been away for over 20 years. I'm writing this in view of the present crisis and the letters that have been written about expatriates.

It took me a few years to convince my husband for us to live in Jakarta. I would like our children to get to know my family better and my background as well. Through a European company, we managed to reside in Singapore for over a year, but I still preferred to live in Jakarta, so we are here now.

We used to live in Sydney, Australia. We owned a few houses and lived in a pretty big house on a six-hectare piece of land. We kept horses and other animals, drove fancy cars, and were well-off. Now, we live in a townhouse and drive a Kijang car.

My husband's salary comes from his European company. The company has spent US$60,000 for our living expenses, and we have been living in Jakarta for six months.

We've been married for over 20 years. My husband is a workaholic, sometimes working seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Occasionally he even works until 11 p.m. We provide jobs for a driver, maid, agent, security people, gardener, electrician, etc. So we're doing a lot for Indonesia's economy.

I think, one should conduct a careful survey before one ventures to write anything about expatriates in the newspaper.

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