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