There’s a proverb in Indonesian,
“Dimana bumi dipijak, disitu langit dijunjung”
Where the world is stepped
on, there the sky is lifted up.
It means when you’re in a
certain place, you need to follow or respect the local culture. By doing so, the
local people will respect you in return.
So here is 5 top things about
local culture to be practiced when you are in Indonesia.
1. Use
your right hand
Left hand is considered
unclean, because it is used to clean yourself in the toilet.
If you hand something to
someone, it’s better to your right hand.
Or if you would like to look
very polite, you could use both hands.
2. Don’t
sit on a table
Table is considered to put
food on it, but not to be seated.
Not every living room has chairs
or sofa. If they do have chairs or sofa, they would let you sit there. If they
don’t have any, then you have to learn how to sit on the floor.
When you sit on the floor,
it’s considered polite to ‘hide’ your soles of the feet.
3. Dress
appropriately
If you go to a beach and to
most tourism places, it’s okay to wear shorts and tank tops.
If you go to the immigration
office, or to a school, and other formal institution, let’s wear something
conservatively, no shorts, no tank tops, no mini skirts.
Do wear long skirts or long
pants, and a shirt with sleeves. If it’s formal, they will require you to wear
closed toe shoes.
4. Take
off your shoes
Before you enter a house,
usually people take off their shoes and arrange them nicely close to the front
door.
If you are not sure if you
should take off your shoes or not, you can see if the house owner take his/her
shoes off or not, and do as he/she does.
If you are not sure, you can
always ask.
5. Don’t
open gift in front of the giver
In some culture, it’s very common
to open the gift in front of the gives it.
In Indonesia, it’s considered
impolite to open a gift in front of the giver. Usually you should wait until
you go home, and then you can open it.
Maybe one of your friend
can’t afford an expensive gift. By opening the gift at home, your friend won’t
be embarrased in front of the others who give nicer or more expensive gifts.
If you are a good friend of
the giver, you can ask him/her if it’s okay to open it now, in front of the
giver.
All the 5 things above are the normal things
that happen in Indonesia, but of course there are always exceptions. If you are
in big cities, or with close friends, you don’t really need to worry.
Anyway, they understand that you’re from a
different culture, so it’s okay if you don’t know.
Have you been to Indonesia?
Do you want to share anything about our topic today? Please feel free to share
in the comments below.
Love,
Mama Bahasa
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