Social Customs
The Indonesian people, in general
is very friendly and very polite. It is the inheritance from the past that the
younger must respect the older or the lower status people should pay respect to
the authority. In Hindu society, the lower caste pay respect to the upper caste
in the way of addressing, use different level of language, body gestures or the
place where to sit and the way they sit.
To show how polite and respectful
the Indonesian society we can observe from the formal context like a meeting,
seminar or conference where the Indonesian greet those who are considered
having high-status or VIP must be addressed by saying, “Yang Terhormat”
or the Most Respectful then followed by the honorary title, name and
occupation. Not just in spoken language, but also in writing a formal letter
they always put the abbreviation of “Yth,…” (Yang Terhormat…) before or
after the name of people.
Since they are so polite that they
will never criticize people directly, not honest in telling the negative
truth. From this custom then appeared the term ABS (Asal Bapak Senang)
that means “as long as the boss (father) is happy”. The Indonesian people try
to please their authority for a few reasons, for examples: in order not to get
fired, not to hurt someone’s feeling. There are many ways not to hurt people’s
feeling. By not telling the truth, not criticizing them, not shouting or not
whispering to other people while looking at someone. Some people do not look at
straight at your eyes because in some parts of Indonesia
For the sexual behaviors, the
Indonesian people do not hug and kiss in public but hold hands with each other
of the same gender is very normal. Even boys sleep together in the same bed is
also very normal, so do the girls as long as with the same sex.
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| a very common scene in Indonesia |
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