What do people say about living abroad?

JAKARTA (JP): Most people are born, grow up and die in the same country, many never even visiting the lands of a foreign culture. But a surprisingly large number of people immigrate to live a significant portion of their lives in a foreign country for one reason or another. These migrants must face the life of being a minority, sometimes vulnerable to discrimination.

Erwin Sasmito, a 35-year-old Canadian, says the attitudes of Canadians toward immigrants have changed a lot compared to when he and his Indonesian family moved there in 1976.

"I sense a lot of positiveness, although there are still some who are narrow-minded and mistreat immigrants. The topic of immigration in Canada always leads to so many different arguments and opinions," says Erwin, who now works in a bank in Toronto.

"Canada is not a melting-pot like neighboring America. The difference is that in Canadian society, people tend to keep their heritage and culture and expect others to respect each other in that way," he says.

"In the United States, ethnic traditions, culture and heritage melt into one, which, in my opinion, is an aspect of the American way.

"Compare New York with Toronto. In Toronto, there is an air of pride among the diverse cultures that are frequently celebrated. But Canada might still become a melting-pot. It is a relatively new country and the majority of new immigrants probably go as far as maybe two generations.

"The new generation (youths) stemming from this has integrated with the general society, which is already diverse, and this is where culture and traditions etc. tend to disappear," Erwin says.

As a son of an Indonesian diplomat, Erwin was no stranger to living in foreign countries when he came to Canada. The family decided to settle in Canada after his father ended his term at the Indonesian Embassy in Ottawa.

But Erwin, who is a bachelor, misses his former country.

"After being abroad for so long, I begin to question Western values. Now I find that I might have peace of mind if I moved back home where Eastern values have more meaning to my life. The simplicity back home is much more beautiful than the techno complexity here in the West.

"If it came down to standard of living and freedom of speech, I would choose to live in a country like Canada. If it came down to community, morals and staying out of big capitalist hypocrisy, I would choose Indonesia," he concludes.

Nina, 35, has been living in Canberra for two years and says Asians sometimes get negative feedback from some people in the Australian community.

"It sometimes seems that they have a prejudice against us even before they get to know us," she complains.

Nina, who left Indonesia to live with her Australian husband, has a public relations degree and is now self-employed in the photography field.

There is only one mosque in Canberra, located on the grounds of the Egyptian Embassy, and it is far from her house.

"I'm not really supported in the practice of my religion in the same way as I would be in Indonesia," she says.

Her other problem is clothing.

"I often need to buy clothes from Indonesia because it is hard to find things that fit me since I'm much smaller than Australian standard sizes."

But she enjoys living in Canberra because of its healthy environment.

"I am happy in my new country. I feel more healthy and safe."

Budi Susilo, a Sydney resident, decided to leave heavily polluted Jakarta for Australia 10 years ago because his second child, who was then 5 years old, had medical problems.

A former manager at the Gramedia Group, Budi is now a shoe and bag trader, and operates his own travel agency.

Budi found it very hard to adjust to his new environment at first.

"Now, we have no problems. There's lots of Indonesian food here. We can easily get information about Indonesia from The Jakarta Post, which I get directly from Jakarta, and from the television and the Internet. If we miss our friends, we just call them."

Budi says his family speaks Indonesian at home. "But now my children are starting to have problems speaking Indonesian."

Anton left Indonesia for New Zealand in 1981 to take a short course in English. After finishing the course, he went to Sydney to sightsee. But he has been there much longer than the average tourist: 11 years.

He decided to stay when he found out that he could earn a good living there. Luckily, he landed a job at a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet -- not as a dishwasher, but as a manager, thanks to his good English and good communication skills (he had worked as a detailman for a pharmaceutical firm before leaving for New Zealand). Anton is also computer literate, which later helped him get a job as a management information system manager at an automobile manufacturing company.

"What I like best about Australia is that everything seems to be in order, no corruption. The people are disciplined, they're willing to queue, not like what happens here.

"But Australians are individualists," says Anton, who was born into a Chinese-Indonesian family in a small Central Java town.

Asked what he misses most about Indonesia, he replies: "I love eating noodles on the roadside ... and that, you can't do in Australia. They don't allow such food stalls for hygienic reasons."

Then a permanent resident of Sydney, Anton married an Australian school teacher in 1987 and returned to Indonesia six years later. "Australia was hit by recession. I got a job offer in a computer company in Jakarta, and an international school hired my wife. After all, all of my (extended) family is in Indonesia."

Anton still has his Indonesian citizenship and does not have any plans to give it up. But he said he might go back to Australia to provide his daughter with a better education.

He does not worry about being a minority. "Pauline Hanson doesn't like Asians as a group, but she doesn't hate Asians as individuals. Well, some Australians are xenophobic, there are the skinheads and the neo-Nazis. But what happens there is not as bad as the discrimination against Chinese-Indonesians here."

Nirwan Idrus, an Australian of Indonesian origin, is confident that Australians are not so naive about Hanson's policies.

"Yes, there are problems with employment, there are problems with the Australian economy, partly as a result of the problems in the Asian economy, but everybody can see that the arrival of Asian migrants has created and not taken away jobs from Australians," he says.

"I believe those who have those fears ... are people who are not confident about themselves. Similarly, those who feel discriminated against are also those who do not have self- confidence. I am a living example of the fair system in Australia and New Zealand."

Nirwan, a consultant in higher education, is a chartered professional engineer who has held senior positions in industry, government and higher education organizations in Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

Nirwan's father, Idrus, was a leading writer of prose in the early years of Indonesian independence.

In 1961, when Nirwan was 12 years old, Idrus and his family left Indonesia because the political situation then was no longer conducive to his creative writing -- his works were considered antigovernment.

They first moved to Malaya, where Nirwan's parents set up a publishing company. In March 1965, Idrus was appointed a lecturer in Modern Indonesian Literature at the newly established Monash University in Melbourne. Given their financial situation, it was not until two years later that the whole family, including Nirwan, could settle there.

In 1982, after finishing his post-graduate studies in engineering at Monash University, Nirwan left Melbourne. He lived in several Australian cities before leaving for Papua New Guinea, where he lived for two-and-a-half years. In the last five years, he has lived in Dunedin, New Zealand.

He is now in Indonesia on a two-year contract as a quality assurance specialist.

"Since our arrival in January this year, we have enjoyed our stay in Jakarta," he says.

His eldest daughter studies at a university in New Zealand, but his two other children go to schools in Jakarta.

"They can now use their hands to eat. To some people, this may not be something that a parent should be proud about, but to (my wife) Renno and myself, these are things that bridge the two cultures. We certainly hope that all these will prepare our children for the future of globalization."

Andi and Linda (not their real names) came to the United States in the early 1990s separately as post-graduate students at the same university in Washington D.C.

To overcome their financial limitations, both worked from midnight to dawn, delivering newspapers in Washington's suburbs. Although it is physically demanding, the job is common among foreign college students, since it pays well and the hours are flexible.

The two married four years ago and bought a house in a Maryland suburb. Their daughter, born a year after they were married, automatically became an American citizen.

After finishing their studies in 1995, they decided to stay and seek permanent residency. Since they had overextended their student visas, they sought assistance from an immigration lawyer, who advised them to set up a company, which is now defunct.

Several months ago they received their greencards (working visas).

Now, Linda works part-time as a real estate agent. Her experiences make her clients, mainly Indonesian or Asian couples who are also settling in the area, easy to relate to her. Andi is now trying to set up a franchise company. The two still deliver newspapers since Linda's real estate business slacks off during winter. (sim/emb/kod/46)