Don't Worry, Your Country Will Be Better..

The conversation about Indonesia and Malaysia..

(At cafe..during the dinner)
*Chen: Do you need to take 4 subjects for PhD?
Me: Ah..ya. But if you have taken in Master, you don't need to take it again..
Chen: Really?
Me: Yeah..like research methodology..
Chen: But my friend said he needed to take..
Me: Just say to the officer that you have taken those subjects..so they can give you exemption..
Chen: Ya..ya..but why my friend said he must take?
Me: It depends.. i have friend that she wasn't allowed to drop the course even though it is not related with her study..
Chen: Oh oh..what semester is she now?

(I'm going to the kitchen of cafe)
Me: Now she's in the third semester..
Chen: Oh.. third semester..
Chen: How much do you pay for a month?
Me: Well, i don't pay..
Chen: Why? They issued scholarship for you?
Me: Yes..
Chen: How much?
Me: *RM 1000/month and deduction 50% from the tuition fee..
Chen: Oh..aha..Do you know that the salary of PhD holder in here is RM 12.000/month?
Me: Really? (shock)
Chen: Yeah..i know it from my friend..
          So you know, i think i'm gonna stay here and be a lecturer..
Me: You applied as PhD student?
Chen: Yeah..
Me: Oh..
Chen: Why?
Me: No, you didn't mention before that you want to continue PhD here..
Chen: Yeah..i'm never think about it..

(I got my food. I'm eating while having chit-chat..)
Me: I thought it's RM6000/month..
Chen: No..No.. it's 12.000/month..
Me: Who are your friends?
Chen: Some Arabic guys..they said it's the rate is 12.000..
Me: WOW..
Chen: So i thought i will stay here and save some money..and travel around..
Me & Chen: the world..! (together)
Chen: Yeah..
Me: (smiling)
Chen: I don't need to go back to China.. cuz the rate for PhD holder there is around RM3000-4000..
Me: Yaa.. oh..
Chen: How about in your hometown?
Me: Me? It's less than that.. it's around RM1500..
Chen: RM1500? It's so small..
Me: Yeah..the rate is RM1500-1700.. for professor.. (1)
Chen: Wow, really?
Me: Yeah, our country does not appreciate academicians..
Me: You know..every year..Malaysia looks for Doctoral degree from Indonesia.. but Indonesia..our government they do not appreciate us..
Chen: Aha.. (nodding)
Chen: So..after two-three years i can save money and buy a house in Indonesia..
Me: Ehem.. why?
Chen: In Indonesia? Because..because..it's beautiful and the regulation there is less strict than in here..
Me: Aha..
Chen: For example..if i want to marry a woman..i have to convert to Moslem first..but my friend said.. we can do it in Indonesia..
Me: (smiling)
Chen: And the Chinese here..has lower level than Malay.. But in Indonesia..no..they think we are same.. we can be friends..
Me: Aha..yeah.. i have many Chinese friends and i never think they are different..
Chen: Yeah..
Chen: And in here..if you want to start up a business..you have to be a Malay..so it's easier.. but in Indonesia no.. you can open a business whatever your race is..
Me: Yeah..it's true..
Chen: So in Indonesia..the people are same to each other..
Me: But it's not entirely true.. in some context..before our government discriminates Chinese.. if you are in military it's hard for you to reach the higher level..but now it is fine.. and i don't know it is still happen or not.. if you join the entrance test for public university (SPMB) and they see your name and face..you are a Chinese.. they will not prioritize you.. that was happened during my era..
Chen: ohh..haa..
Chen: So after two to three years, i can buy a house in Indonesia..
Me: I think it is not two to three years..maybe three months..
Chen: Really? How much is the price for a house in your country?
Me: It depends..
Chen: Normally..
Me: Emm..i don't know.. but it is not so expensive..
Chen: Ha.. yeah.. and i will buy the house in Indonesia.. and live there after retire..
Me: Yeah.. why do you want to live in Indonesia?
Chen: It's because you are rich of the natural resources.. beach, mountain, forest.. you have all!
Me: How do you know that?
Chen: My friend shows me all the pictures..
Me: Yeah..my country is beautiful..
Chen: But you know..in here..even Indonesian got discriminated..
Me: Aha..
Chen: I have a friend..he has graduated.. and one day he told me that there is Indonesian hacked the website of Malaysian airlines company..and they put bad words..I said.. "Why?" What happen? What did Malaysians do to you?
Me: Oh..it is not new problem.. Indonesia-Malaysia..
Chen: Oh, really? It's not new?
Me: Yeah.. there are problem between our government..
Chen: Why? You are almost same.. you dress in the same way.. and many similarities..
Me: It's because Malaysia stole our culture, our traditional dances, our food, our traditional music, even our island.. (2)
Chen: Oh..
Me: Yeah..they claim our dance..it is nonsense it is from Malaysia.. (Pendet Traditional dance from Bali)
Chen: Yeah..yeah..
Me: Even Malaysian who knows that..they know it's not from Malaysia..
Chen: Aha..
Me: Because of that..Indonesians hate Malaysians..
But in my opinion, i don't hate Malaysia.. as long i have been studying here..they never said bad things to me.. even though there are conflicts happened.. like what Indonesians did to Malaysians in Indonesia..
Chen: (nodding)
Me: They just think Malaysia like to claim our culture.. but in here..they gave me scholarship.. they treat me in a good way..
Chen: (nodding)
Me: They don't know that actually Singapore is worse than Malaysia..
Singapore took our sands to make their island larger.. (3) Our student also killed by his professor in NTU. His research worth for much money and he is killed (4).. and even all the apartments there mostly owned by Indonesia.. all Indonesians go there to have holiday.. some companies also owned by Indonesians..
Chen: Wow..
Me: For me..Yeah..Malaysia stole our culture but in terms of education..they are better..they give Indonesians scholarship..they treat us nicely..
Chen: Okay..
Me: But..in some context..Indonesians do not like Malaysians because they like to call us "Indon"..
Chen: Oh ya..ya..i have heard that..
Me: It is a call for Maid..
Chen: Yeah.. you know..once i visited a house..the worker is from Indonesia..and i can see that the owner does not respect him..it is so bad..
Me: Yeah.. it is still our concern..
Chen: Even he is a worker.. in our culture..in China..we have to respect them..
Me: You know, recently some workers are locked in a house recently..it is because the problem of immigration workers..and mostly are Indonesians..(5)
Chen: Wow..
Me: Yeah..our country have many ranges of human resources.. from a stupid until a genius person in Indonesia.. I am a PhD student and once i join to a trip with my lecturer..she has a house maid and she is from Indonesia.. see? You can see an artist, a Doctor, even a house maid..we have all that..
Chen: Ya..ya..
Chen: But you know..your country will be a better country and defeats Malaysia in 5-10 years from now..
So the first rank is Singapore, second is Indonesia, third is Vietnam, and Malaysia will be number four..
Me: Why?
Chen: It's because Indonesia and China government have signed many contracts..including  to build subway..
Me: Subway? There's mo subway in Indonesia..
Chen: Oh..i forget but it's kind of train..
Me: Yeah..monorail..
Chen: Ya..ya.. so there will be many people who come to Indonesia..to work and open the business..
Me: But all the money won't go to the people..it will just stay in government..
Chen: My friend also went to Jakarta and he said Jakarta is so modern..ckck
Me: Yeah..it is so modern..but behind that..exactly behind that.. there are houses near the river.. there are poor people.. The gap between rich and poor in Jakarta is like this.. ( I put my left and right hand in distance)
Chen: Ah..haa.. But your country will grow..
Chen: You know why your country will grow better than Malaysia? Because Indonesia has rich natural resources..but Malaysia not..
Me: Yeah..but all the money goes to the government..not to the people..you know Irian Jaya? It has gold.. it is rich of gold..and there is a company named Freeport, they took all the gold and just give Indonesia 10% of the profit (6). So what happen is, the area out of Freeport is not established..in Freeport area they have everything..complete.. but outside there..it is still jungle..forest.. nothing..
Chen: Oh..
Chen: It suppose to be like Shenzhen.. you know Shenzhen? It is one of the most growing area in Guangzhou now. Before it is nothing but since government put some business there so it builds the people in that area  as well..
Chen: If the agreement is 50% -50% is good..the area can grow so fast.. but if it is less than that..no..
Me: I hope you are true.. Yeah..the problem is Indonesian people are easy to be fooled..
You know the forecast of 5 countries that will lead the world? BRIC..it stands for: Brazil, Russia, India and China. The "I" suppose to belong to Indonesia.. but since we have the high percentage of corruption so we are not better than India.. (sad)
Chen: Aha..ya..ya..
Me: I have to go now..
Chen: Yeah.. Don't worry your country will be better..
Me: Aha.. Thanks..
Chen: Nice to talk to you!


*Chen is my friend from China
**RM= Ringgit Malaysia  ; The current rate 1 RM = Rp 3.120
Source:
(1)http://edukasi.kompas.com/read/2011/10/25/06121692/Di.Indonesia.Gaji.Profesor.Lebih.Rendah.dari.Guru.SD
(2)http://oase.kompas.com/read/2012/06/19/21083044/Malaysia.Klaim.Tujuh.Budaya.Indonesia.Sepanjang.20072012
(3) http://www.eramuslim.com/berita/tahukah-anda/singapura-bertambah-luas-dengan-curi-pasir-indonesia.htm#.URdf_6WTw88
(4)http://internasional.kompas.com/read/2009/04/13/16555372/tim.verifikasi.independen.yakin.99.persen.david.dibunuh
(5) http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/105-maids-rescued-1.180248#ixzz2DyNhiZA8
(6) http://oase.kompas.com/read/2011/11/26/1856067/Kasus.Freeport.Hilangnya.Nurani.Pemerintah