The day the postmaster took us for a ride

The day the postmaster took us for a ride

JAKARTA (JP): Since the monetary crisis started last year,
Indonesia has become one of the cheapest countries in the world.
Well for some people that is, such as expatriates and anyone else
who has enough foreign currency to spend. For the rest of us,
life is just getting more and more expensive every day.

One of the lucky people is Mia, who once came home with a
designer dress that cost less than US$50 and a skirt of the same
brand that was "only" $16 dollars. "Nowhere in the world can I
buy a skirt for that price!" she exclaimed happily.

On another occasion I met a gasping Nancy who was carrying six
pairs of shoes, which she'd bought at a sale. She confessed that
she only wanted to buy one pair, but couldn't choose between the
red or the black pair, so she decided to buy both. Then the
salesgirl showed her another pair that was so comfortable, she
decided to buy that pair as well. The other pairs followed suit,
because they were "so cheap". I gave her my blessing, but prayed
that she would also think of giving a generous donation to
victims of the May riots.

Whereas Mia and Nancy were happy to snap up imported goods for
a bargain, Sandra became elated when she "discovered" local
cosmetics. "To think that all these years I spent thousands of
dollars on imported cosmetics! Our local cosmetics are just as
good and much less expensive! They are made of local herbs,
fruits and flowers according to our own traditional recipes and
are so soothing to the skin!" she said happily, showing me the
attractive bottles and jars she had just bought.

But Indonesia has not become a paradise only for shopaholics.
Gourmets too have a hell of a time here. Take for instance the
day I went out with six friends and had lunch in a seafood
restaurant in Pluit.

Hans ordered the food. Being a gourmet, he ordered the most
delicious dishes. Large prawns, fresh and tasty fish and crab
decorated our table. I was worried about the cost and proposed
going Dutch, otherwise the one footing the bill would have had to
go hungry for a few days. But when the bill came, it was only Rp
137,000, not bad for so much food. It was very good for Jim, an
American who was happy to pick up the bill all by himself. "Less
than $10!" he said triumphantly with a broad grim. "In the
States, I would have to pay more than $10 dollars a person!"

For Jim who thinks in dollars and calculates every payment in
dollars, life must have been a paradise here. He bought lots of
gifts to give to his friends in the States, while at the same
time helping our craftsmen. He bought designer shirts like Kenzo,
Ralph Lauren, etc., shoes, something I'd never seen him wear
before, and to help promote tourism, he bought many postcards to
send to his friends. They were so beautiful and yet so affordable
and the cost of postage was ridiculous, only about 10 cents!

He wrote something on each of them but, not being used to
sending postcards, he postponed it for a long time. When he
finally did post them it was too late. The boy he sent out to
mail 10 postcards came back with stamps for only one card. The
biggest problem was not the price, but how to fit all the stamps
on the card, because the highest stamp denomination is only Rp
2,000. So the part of each postcard where he had written his
message ended up being covered by eight stamps that added up to
the Rp 15,800 in postage.

Even worse was the photographs he wanted to send to his
mother. The letter and with enclosed photos weighed 50 grams, so
he had to pay Rp 56,000. It was funny to see Jim, the university
professor, licking all 28 stamps, trying to fit them on the
envelope and still leave enough space for the mailing address,
plus the sender's details.

It was probably the only time I saw Jim in distress, but Jim
was still full of humor.

"This is a different case than the fuel prices hike," he
laughed. "When that was announced, we could at least queue up at
gas stations and fill up our tanks to drive cheaply for a few
kilometers." This time the postmaster has truly taken us for a
ride! Would it have been of any use to stock up on stamps?

-- Myra Sidharta